Good relations between religions in Central Asia
Tashkent (AsiaNews) "There are all the necessary conditions for Catholics to live in peace and for the Catholic Church to develop in the Central Asia. The rights of religious minorities are protected by the constitution. There are no obstacles to professing one's faith and to building of churches", this according to Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski. The Apostolic Nuncio, who is based in the Kazakh capital of Astana and responsible for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, spoke during a visit to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, that took place on September 13-15.
In his visit to the Uzbek capital, he and Uzbekistan's first Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz met with the Foreign Minister and the Committee for Religious Affairs. They held talks that centred on the perspectives of the Catholic community in the country as well as other social-political issues.
The Archbishop used then occasion to thank Uzbek authorities for sending an official delegation to the funeral of Pope John Paul II, for Bishop Maculewicz's ordination in Rome last May and for the his installation in Tashkent in June.
"The fact that the Catholics of Uzbekistan now have their own Bishop is a great honour not only for them, but for the whole country. It shows the country's stability and the absence of any obstacles on the path of the Catholic Church", Archbishop Wesolowski said.
As for difficulties in professing one's faith in Central Asia, the Nuncio said that whatever problems there may be, they are similar to those in all the other countries of the region. "This is because the conditions in these predominantly Muslim countries are practically the same", he stressed.
Speaking of Kazakhstan, he said that ethnic Germans, Poles, and Lithuanians have traditionally played an important role in the life of the Catholic community. But now the community is growing thanks to locals.
The Archbishop mentioned the importance of a 1998 agreement between Vatican and Kazakhstan and insisted that inter-faith relations are good in Central Asia, stressing that in Kazakhstan they are favoured by regular meetings (two or three times a year) between the Department of Religious Affairs and representatives of the different religions.
These meetings provide the opportunity for discussions aimed at joint initiatives such as New Year celebrations organised by both Muslims and Catholics.
The representative of the Holy See also stressed that Catholic charity organisations are involved in social activities, not proselytizing; one example, for instance, was his visit to a prison in the Kazakh city of Petropavsovsk.
Archbishop Wesolowski also mentioned the activities of Sisters of Mother Teresa. "Poor people are not only those with limited financial means, but also those who have physical and mental disabilities, prison inmates, orphans and all those people who need special care."
Yet not all is rosy. Protestant communities still face important obstacles. The Uzbek government has so far refused to recognise them, preventing Protestant Churches the right to carry out their mission and denying Protestants the right to meet for prayers.
Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was born in 1948 in Noviy Targ, Poland. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Krakow.
In 1976, Karol Woytiła, then Archbishop of Krakow Wesolowski, authorised him to enrol at the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy in Rome.
After graduation, he worked as secretary at several Vatican embassies in Africa and South America as well as at Vatican legations in Japan and Switzerland. He was an advisor at the Vatican embassy in India, Denmark and other Scandinavian countries.
In 1999 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia and in 2001 became Apostolic Nuncio for Central Asia (except Turkmenistan).
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