Msgr. Amédée Grab, president of the CCEE (Council of European Episcopal Conferences) and bishop of Coira, recently visited Kazakhstan with a delegation composed of 25 bishops and representatives of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe and Eurasia. The trip, which took place from 9 to 16 August, was dedicated to the memory of the suffering and martyrdom of millions of people deported to camps in Kazakhstan. The delegates of the Episcopal Conferences prayed at Malinowka, near Astana, site of the largest deportation camp for women. Another moment of great emotion, according to the participants, was a visit to the special camp created in 1941 for 60 thousand prisoners of war at Spassk, near Karaganda. The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on 15 August was celebrated at the shrine to the Queen of Peace at Osernoje, reached after an hours-long journey through fields of grain. A few hundred young people were present, at the conclusion of their annual pilgrimage. The Catholic Church in Kazakhstan numbers some 350,000 believers in a country 60 times larger than Switzerland (2,717,300 sq. km) and with a population of 15 million people from 110 ethnic groups. John Paul II’s apostolic trip of September 2001 has left a deep mark. The delegation’s encounters with leaders of the Orthodox communities of Astana and Karaganda gave evidence of “a fraternal ecumenical situation”, says the CCEE secretary, who adds: “It was important and profoundly symbolic for the delegates of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe to go to the boundaries of Asia. It is on these boundaries that the future of Christianity is being played out. Kazakhstan is a bridge between two continents, its frontiers stretch from the Caspian Sea to China. In Kazakhstan we met pioneers who have had the courage to go to the frontier and whom we have the duty to support”.
