Pope to Visit Kazakhstan for the Congress of World Religions

Pope Francis has expressed his intention to visit Kazakhstan on the occasion of the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions which will be held on September 14 and 15 in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan.

The information, first given by the Kazakh office of the president, was confirmed by Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Room. Francis broached the subject during a videoconference interview with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan.

The first Congress of World and Traditional Religions was held in Astana in 2003, inspired by the “Day of Prayer for Peace” convened in Assisi by John Paul II in January 2002, in order to reaffirm the positive contribution of the different religious traditions to dialogue and harmony between peoples and nations after the tensions following the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.

At this first congress, the Holy See was represented by the Slovak Cardinal Joseph Tomko, then president of the Pontifical Council for the Evangelization of Peoples. At successive congresses, the French cardinals Roger Etchegaray and Jean-Louis Tauran had headed up delegations from the Vatican.

The theme of the upcoming Seventh Interfaith Congress will be “The Role of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the Socio-Spiritual Development of Humanity in the Post-Pandemic Period.”

These Congresses are in imitation of Assisi, an expanded version, both in terms of the multifaceted participation of “religions,” and the effacement of the Catholic Church, which finds herself drowned among the guests, rubbing shoulders with false gods, and being lowered to their level. It is difficult to carry the insult further to the Incarnate Word, the only true God with the Father and the Holy Ghost.