Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Baku (Fides Service) - “The laying of the foundation stone for a Catholic church in Baku, the first in 70 years of suffering, is an important event for the city and the nation: it is a sign that the Catholic Church here is alive and growing under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary”: said Salesian Fr Jan Kapla, superior of the Catholic Mission of Baku capital of Azerbaijan preparing to welcome Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation, on a pastoral visit to that community 10-12 September. On Sunday 11 September the Cardinal will bless the foundation stone for the new church at the end of Mass attended by Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, Papal Nuncio in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and local civil and political authorites as well as local Catholics and other belivers.
Fr Kapla said: “For our community the event is one of rejoicing, celebration and announcement.. We have prepared very carefully and joyfully for Cardinal Sepe’s arrival. Everyone has worked hard to make it a great event. There is an atmosphere of new life. Seventy years after the destruction of the church in 1935, the little flock of 150 Azerbaijan Catholics is still alive and now filled with new hope”.
The new church will in a semi-central part of Baku stand on a piece of land given by the government to the local Catholic community. It will be dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and will be part of a complex of a pastoral centre and a house for priests.
The land was donated following Pope John Paul II’s history making apostolic visit here in May 2002. Formalities completed, plans approved, work can now begin. The church will be neo-Gothic style with a facade similar to that of the old church destroyed in the 1930s by order of Stalin.
During his pastoral visit Cardinal Sepe will meet local authorities and visit a camp of Nagorno-Karabakh refugees on Saturday 10 September. On the Sunday after presiding Mass in the community chapel he will meet a group of local young people. In the afternoon he will attend the ceremony for the laying of the church foundation stone and then bless the building site for a Home for the Poor to be run by the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa. On Monday 12 before departing the Cardinal will pay a courtesy call on the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev and have a meeting with Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders .
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 10/9/2005 righe 32 parole 303)
