KAZAKHSTAN: Pope John Paul II arrives on visit overshadowed by possible US Strikes against Afghanistan

Record ID: 862065

  • Title: KAZAKHSTAN: Pope John Paul II arrives on visit overshadowed by possible US Strikes against Afghanistan
  • Date: 22nd September 2001
  • Summary: GV: BAND PLAYING
  • Embargoed: 7th October 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN
  • City:
  • Country: Kazakhstan
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8T7A4UAVPDL93IP47PVMFVJV6
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Pope John Paul II has arrived in the former Soviet state of Kazakhstan at the start of a regional tour overshadowed by a looming United States military strike.
    Pope John Paul II will be spending three days in Kazakhstan and three days in the ex-Soviet state of Armenia.
    The Pontiff's plane touched down on Saturday (September 22) at the airport in the capital Astana, where Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was on hand to greet him, along with an honour guard, youths clad in national Kazakh costumes and local Catholic clergy.
    A huge country stretching across Central Asia, Kazakhstan neighbours some of the countries that may be caught up in events if Washington launches military strikes in Afghanistan in retaliation for the attacks in New York and Washington.
    The Pope arrived in Kazakhstan as the guest of the nation's president and is set to hold three masses in the mostly Muslim nation that has a small community of Catholic believers -many Poles and Germans dislocated after World War Two.
    But the increasing possibility of a United States military strike against regional neighbour Afghanistan has overshadowed the Pope's planned schedule.

    (bl/lh)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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