His Holiness, Pope Francis
Vatican City
Nur Sultan
December 12, 2019
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Dear Holy Father,
The Bishops and Ordinaries of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan, together with the entire Church, joyfully celebrate the anniversary of your Priestly Ordination.
On December 13, the faithful Catholics of our country will offer the Thrice Holy God with deep and sincere gratitude prayers for the spiritual and material good of Your Holiness. There are gifts from God that are gradually changing us. After fifty years of immersion in the priesthood of Christ, we ask that your identification with the Love of the Heart of Jesus be even deeper and more fruitful and fill your soul with happiness that no one else on earth can give us.
Dear Holy Father, we take this opportunity to thank You for the warm welcome You gave us on March 1 this year during our “ad limina” visit. In Your words and gestures we were able to catch that family spirit and care can also exist outside the walls of bureaucratic and office life.
May the Good Shepherd preserve and strengthen You in fidelity to Your vocation, and may the Blessed Virgin help you and through You to remove all the shackles by which the modern world wants to deprive us of freedom of Love and Faith.
United to Your intentions, we ask for the mercy of Your prayers and blessings for us and for our people,
Catholic Bishops and Ordinaries of Kazakhstan
+ José Luís Mumbiela Sierra, Bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity in Almaty, President of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan
+ Tomash Peta, Archbishop Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Holy Mary in Astana
+ Adelio Dell’Oro, Bishop of Karaganda
+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Holy Mary in Astana
+ Dariusz Buras, Apostolic Administrator of Atyrau
+ Vasyl Hovera, Mitred Archpriest, Apostolic Administrator for Catholics of the Byzantine Rite of Kazakhstan and Central Asia
