Papal Trip Background: Azerbaijan

AZERBAIJAN, May 22, 02 (CWNews.com) - The primary focus for the May 22-23 visit by Pope John Paul II to Azerbaijan will be the fragile political situation in the region.

Azerbaijan is locked in a long running battle with Armenia over the province of Nagorni-Karabakh, which both countries claim. (The province is now held by Armenia.) But the conflict in the region stretches beyond the borders of Azerbaijan, to the neighboring Balkans, Chechnya, and Iran. Political turmoil and militant Islam complicate the lives of all the region's residents.

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, has been independent since 1991-- although fighting continued for years after the collapse of the Communist empire before the current republic emerged. This is the 8th former Soviet republic that Pope John Paul has visited; the others are Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

The possibility of a papal trip to Azerbaijan was first bruited during the preparations for the Pontiff's visit to Armenia and Kazakhstan last year. But the little republic north of the Caspian Sea was not included on that trip, for two reasons. First, organizers were worried that the crowded schedule for the papal trip could be too much for the health of the aging Pontiff. Second, the diplomatic tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia made planners worry that observers might read some unwanted significance into the Pope's plans if he traveled from one country to the other.

Last year's trip to Armenia was a top priority for Pope John Paul. The year marked the 1,700th anniversary of the official adoption of Christianity in Armenia, giving rise to a large formal celebration. And since the Vatican has drawn particularly close to the Armenian Apostolic Church, the ecumenical moment was an important one. Ironically, however, the political implications of that visit to Armenia probably helped pave the way for a separate papal voyage to Azerbaijan; once again, Vatican officials wanted to avoid conveying the impression that the Pope favored one side over the other in the border dispute.

In Azerbaijan, the Pope will find a country that is overwhelmingly Islamic. Well over 90 percent of the people are Muslims, with the majority adhering to the Shiite sect. Although the Azeri constitution guarantees religious freedom-- and the Pope will praise the country for that, in part because true religious freedom is rarity in the Islamic world-- the government still maintains laws to restrict the activities of "foreign" religious groups. Christians are allowed to practice their faith, but Azeri Muslims who convert to Christianity are regarded as traitors to their society.

The Catholic Church in Azerbaijan boasts only 120 faithful, clustered in a single parish in a run-down neighborhood of the country's capital city, Baku. The pastor, Father Josif Daniil Pravda, sees the papal visit as an opportunity to strengthen the freedom of the Church, and guard against the influence of Shiite Muslim activists-- particularly those from neighboring Iran. "All of us, the Christians in this country, hope that the visit will be a help to Christianity and to a society threatened by the radicalization of Islam," he remarks.