On April 29, bishops and ordinaries arrived in Kazakhstan to participate in the first plenary session of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Central Asia and visited the N. Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Intercivilization Dialogue.
The event attended by the Deputy Chairmen of the Board of the Center N. Yessimov and D.Yesenova, Bishops Jose Mumbiel Serra (Kazakhstan), Jerzy Maculewicz (Uzbekistan), Evgeny Zinkovsky (Kazakhstan), Bishop Athanasius Schneider (Kazakhstan), Vladimír Fekete (Azerbaijan), Giorgio Marengo (Mongolia), as well as Priests Andrzej Madej (Turkmenistan), Anthony Corcoran (Kyrgyzstan), Pedro Lopez (Tajikistan), Peter Sakmar (Kazakhstan), Scalese Giovanni (Afghanistan), Tomasz Pys (Kazakhstan), Sergey Drobyshev (Kazakhstan), Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature in Kazakhstan Monsignor Miguel Tutale, CAES Press Secretary Monsignor Peter Pyilovany, Press Service Representative Andrey Klester.
During the meeting, Deputy Chairman of the Board N. Yessimov informed the distinguished guests about the work of the Center for the organization and preparation of the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which will be held on September 14-15, 2022. The special attention of the leadership of Kazakhstan in this direction, securing the status of a universal global interreligious dialogue platform for the Kazakhstan forum, providing a constructive dialogue on the most pressing issues of our time.
In turn, D.Yesenova, noting the historical significance and role of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, stressed that "The Congress has become a significant contribution of Kazakhstan to the global process of interreligious and interfaith dialogue and has taken a special place in the efforts of the world community to strengthen the principles of harmony and tolerance, mutual understanding and cooperation both within the country and on the the international arena".
Bishop of the Diocese of the Most Holy Trinity in Almaty Jose Mumbiel Serra and Ordinarius of the sui iuris mission in Turkmenistan Andrzej Madej highly appreciated Kazakhstan's peacekeeping initiatives, and also noted that "Kazakhstan's unique model of interfaith and interethnic harmony is in demand today in the context of modern challenges and threats throughout the world community and can become an example for most countries".
In turn, Bishop Giorgio Marengo noted that the Kazakh model of interethnic and interfaith harmony can become an example for most countries of the world, in particular in his own country - Mongolia.
All participants of the meeting appreciated the importance of Kazakhstan's initiatives in promoting interfaith dialogue at the international level and wished the Kazakh side a successful holding of the upcoming VII Congress.
At the end of the meeting, Center organized for the guests a tour for the Museum of Peace and Harmony.
Reference: The Episcopal Conference is a permanent body (with the status of a legal entity) of the Catholic Church, uniting Catholic bishops of a country or a certain territory, established by the Apostolic See to coordinate activities in this territory. The objectives of the work of the Episcopal Conference are: to determine the rules of church life that are uniform for all the countries participating in the conference.
