Pope Francis met with Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan and his wife in the Vatican. They discussed the Catholic Community in the country of Azerbaijan and initiatives for inter-religious and intercultural dialogue. They also discussed the nation’s regional and international situation with stress on “negotiation” as a means of “conflict resolution.”
They exchanged gifts as usual. The president gave the pope some local Azerbaijani things of significance. The pope gave the president a few gifts, among them a copy of his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. He noted that the exhortation “was written for Catholics, but is for everyone.”
The pope’s words are revealing. Public papal apostolic exhortations, encyclicals and letters are typically written to Catholics, but are meant to influence global thinking.
As usual after papal audiences, the president met with Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and under-secretary for Relations with States, Msgr. Antoine Camilleri.
“All the world wondered after…” Revelation 13:3
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