"From this city, the capital of Kazakhstan, where people of different nationalities and different faiths live in harmony, I call on all Christians and believers of other faiths to build together a world without violence, a world that lives in happiness and develops in equity and solidarity"

Pope John Paul II during his visit to Astana on 22-25 September 2001 ("Tygodnik Powszechny" newspaper, nr 39, 30.09.2001).