Azerbaijan celebrates its first Catholic Church

This is a really inspiring event. It shows how seeds are planted, as the land was gifted during Pope John Paul II's visit to Azerbaijan in 2002 by the father of the current President. The President attended the ceremony along with Muslim leaders (chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office, Sheykh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh). A new gift was made of land for a homeless shelter!

http://www.zenit.org/article-22014?l=english

snip

Cardinal Bertone thanked Azerbaijan's president, IIham Aliyev, who attended the ceremony, for the country's commitment to promote "an authentic religious tolerance in a land […] marked by the vocation of an ancient and consolidated cosmopolitanism, which has enriched it with various contributions."

"Civilization rests on a rock that is concrete -- the serene coexistence of different religions," he observed.