NUR-SULTAN (UCAN): Bishop José Luis Mumbiela Sierra of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity in Almaty of Kazakhstan, was elected as the first head of newly created Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Central Asia [CBCCA].
The Spanish-born as its first president during its first plenary meeting held in Nur-Sultan the capital of Kazakhstan from April 27 to 29 [Sunday Examiner, May 1].
The meeing brought together bishops and Church delegates from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Afghanistan, as well as from the Vatican and South Korea.
They discussed and set pastoral priorities for Churches in the region and held talks concerning the September visit of Pope Francis to Kazakhstan. The meeting also welcomed some Kazakh government officials.
The CBCCA also elected Monsignor Jerzy Maculewicz, apostolic administrator of Uzbekistan, and Monsignor Evgeny Zinkovsky, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, as vice president and general secretary, respectively, for a four-year term. The officials are entrusted with pastoral activities including evangelisation and social development, according the Fides news agency.
The 52-year-old Bishop Sierra is the first bishop of the Holy Trinity Diocese of Almaty, which was created in 2003.
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Afghanistan, as well as from the Vatican and South Korea
The Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples created the CBCCA by decree on 8 September 2021, to help regional bishops respond to common challenges and to ensure mutual support to address problems in each country. The conference is also the newest member of the Federation of Asian Catholic Bishops’ Conferences (FABC).
Congregation prefect, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, connected with the participants of the plenary meeting via video from the Vatican.
Cardinal Tagle said the conference “is called to play a special role in the ministry of the Church in the territories of the countries of Central Asia. Although Catholics in this region are a minority, this does not detract from the role that the Church plays in society.”
The cardinal also offered guidelines for carrying out such activities as developing friendly relations with other religions and constant and proper formation of clergy, religious and laity for catechesis in parishes.
The CBCCA will also undertake a range of initiatives including the translation and publication of Catholic books, prayer books and manuals in national languages to contribute to the spread of the gospel in various sectors of society, to the synodal process, to work with young people and families and the implementation of Caritas projects.
The Catholic Church officially began in Central Asia when the Vatican established an apostolic administration in Kazakhstan, based in the city of Karaganda, in 1991.
Islam is the faith of the majority in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan with an estimated total population of 72 million, mostly Sunni Muslims. The region has a significant concentration of Russian Orthodox.
Kazakhstan is the largest among the five central Asian nations with nearly 15 million inhabitants. Catholics are estimated to number around 250,000.
