During his visit to Kazakhstan, the Pope received the Jesuit brothers in Nur-Sultan. The meeting lasted over an hour.
(Vatican News Network)Caring and ecumenism, these were the two key words of Pope Francis during his private meeting with the Jesuits at the Holy See embassy in Kazakhstan on the morning of September 15. Fr Anton Xi, editor-in-chief of Rome’s “Catholic Civilization” journal, said that, as usual, the Pope would meet with the Jesuits during his pastoral visit. This is a moment of brotherhood. The meeting began just before 9 a.m. local time and lasted about an hour and a quarter of an hour. The entire conversation will be published in the Jesuit journal Catholic Civilization.
There are 25 Jesuits in the entire Russian region, which includes Belarus, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and no Jesuits in Kazakhstan. There were 19 members who met with the Pope this time. “It was a very friendly, light-hearted and frank meeting”, said Fr. Xi Anton, discussing the current geopolitical framework with a pastoral dimension that has always been of great concern.
Father Xi Anton went on to say that the Pope is particularly concerned about small but very active church groups, as well as those in Russia. He exhorted the Jesuits’ mission to be “caring” in particular.
On this occasion, as is the case with all the brethren during an international pastoral visit, it was a moment of unbridled and frank conversation, each one talking about his own experience and how he viewed the political and church situation. Another key word in the meeting was “ecumenism”, which is extremely important for this Asian region, where Catholics are a minority. There is often a sense of intimacy in the Pope’s expressions and the hospitality of the Jesuits.
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