President Nazarbayev meets with Visiting Vatican Dean

    President Nursultan Nazarbaev has conducted a meeting with the Dean of the Vatican's College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano.
    During their meeting in Astana, Nazarbaev thanked the Vatican for its support of Kazakhstan's initiative to host the annual Congress of Leaders of the World's Traditional Religions.
    Sodano extended greetings from Pope Benedict XVI and said the Vatican appreciates Kazakhstan's contribution to the development of interfaith dialogue.
    German and other ethnic minorities maintain some 100 Roman Catholic churches and chapels in Kazakhstan, according to RFE/RL.