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Roman Catholicism in Azerbaijan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Roman Catholic Church in Azerbaijan is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.
It is one of the least Catholic countries in the world in terms of the number of adherents with only 400 faithful out of a total population of over seven million. About half of the congregation consists of foreigners that work as diplomats or work for oil companies.[1]
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Christians have been present in Azerbaijan since the 1st century A.D.[2] Catholicism's presence began with the arrival of Polish political deportees in the 1790s.[3]
In the early 20th century there was a community in Baku made up of Polish, German, and Russian immigrants who built the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1915.[4] In the early 1930s, Joseph Stalin had the small community's only priest killed.[5] In 1931, the communist authorities demolished the church.[6]
In 1997, a Polish priest came to Baku to restart the community.[5]
In October 2000, the mission sui iuris of Baku was established covering the whole of the country, with Jozef Pravda as its first superior.
On May 23, 2002, Pope John Paul II visited the country, despite his increasingly fragile health.[7] He was initially invited by Azerbaijan's president, Heidar Aliev.[3] Thanks to his visit, President Aliev gave the Catholic church a plot of land to build a church.[5] The building was funded by proceeds from Pope John Paul II's book sales and foreign donations.[8]
When Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the apostolic nuncio to Azerbaijan, visited the country he encountered many elderly believers who had waited almost 70 years to receive the sacrament of confirmation.[5]
St Mary's Catholic Church of Baku was rebuilt in March 2007.[1]
As Azerbaijan is a secular country the law states that foreigners who promote religious propaganda face enormous fines or deportation.[9]
- ^ a b (Russian) Construction of Catholic Church in Baku Coming to End by R.Manafli. Echo. 8 March 2007
- ^ Groundbreaking for first Catholic church in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Catholic World News (September 12th, 2005). Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
- ^ a b Azerbaijan's Few Catholics Ready to Greet Pope. Catholic World News (May 21st, 2002). Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
- ^ Lowe, Christian (May 23rd, 2002). Pope Celebrates Mass in Azerbaijan. Catholic World News. Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
- ^ a b c d Faithful Waited 70 Years for Confirmation in Azerbaijan. zenit.org (May 20th, 2005). Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
- ^ Lowe, Christian (May 23rd, 2002). POPE'S FALTERING HEALTH CAUSES CONCERN ON AZERBAIJAN VISIT. Agence France Presse. Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
- ^ Stanley, Alessandra (May 23rd, 2002). Frail Pope Takes His Message Of Peace to the Azerbaijanis. New York Times. Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
- ^ "Catholic Church to open in Azerbaijan". AssA-Irada (August 30th, 2005). Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
- ^ Corley, Felix (November 1st, 2005). AZERBAIJAN: Selective obstruction of foreign religious workers. Forum 18. Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
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