NUR-SULTAN: Pope Francis, warned by doctors not to travel to Ukraine, arrived in Kazakhstan in Central Asia on Tuesday for a three-day visit to promote dialogue and peace in the ex-Soviet region.
The Argentine pope, who is forced by knee pain to use a wheelchair and has admitted he must slow down or consider retirement, will take part in an inter-religious summit in the capital, Nur-Sultan.
His plane landed shortly after 5:15 pm, a journalist onboard said, and the 85-year-old pontiff was greeted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev before addressing the authorities and the diplomatic corps.
Greeting Francis, Tokayev said the visit was a "great honour".
Francis said on Sunday that the 38th trip abroad since his election in 2013 would be "an opportunity... to (have a) dialogue as brothers, animated by the common desire for peace, peace that our world is thirsty for".
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, was initially expected but has pulled out of the September 14-15 event, dashing hopes of a meeting with Francis over the Ukraine conflict.
While the pope has called for peace and denounced a "cruel and senseless war", Kirill has defended Putin's "military operation" and the fight against Russia's "external and internal enemies".
About 100 delegations from 50 countries are expected to take part in the event in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that gained independence in 1991.
"Dialogue, a coming together, the search for peace between different religious and cultural worlds are at the heart of this trip," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Monday. - AFP
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