From 30 August to 4 September Cardinal Peter K. A. Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will travel to Astana, Kazakhstan, for various events connected to the International Exposition EXPO 2017. The event, which will is drawing to its conclusion – planned for 10 September – is dedicated to the theme “Future Energy”. The Holy See is present with its own pavilion, entitled “Energy for the Common Good: Caring for our Common Home”. In the mission, Cardinal Turkson, appointed last year as Commissioner for the participation of the Holy See in the EXPO 2017, will be accompanied by the apostolic nuncio of the country, Msgr. Francis A. Chullikatt, members of the local Church and staff of the dicastery.

On 31 August at 16.00 local time, His Eminence will attend an interreligious conference at the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation in Astana. This event, curated by the dicastery with the assistance of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the apostolic nunciature in Kazakhstan, with the patronage of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Kazakhstan, the Secretariat of the Congress Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, and the Municipality of Astana, and with the support of Renovabis, a charitable body of the Catholic Church in Germany – will also be attended by representatives of Islam, Judaism and various Christian confessions from Kazakhstan and other countries.

On World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, on 1 September at 11.00, in the presence of Cardinal Turkson and the vice Commissioner, Fr. Guido Trezzani, director of Caritas Almaty, a press conference will be held in the EXPO Media Centre during which the content and artistic itinerary of the Vatican pavilion will be illustrated and the programme will be announced for the Holy See National Day, to be held the following day. Finally, a project will be presented in relation to the sustainable use of energy and social integration, relating in particular to orphans and disabled children, to be implemented by the Catholic Church in Kazakhstan.

The official celebration of the Holy See National Day will take place on 2 September at 15.00. The speakers on the occasion will be Cardinal Turkson, Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, president of the Senate of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and H.E. Msgr. Tomasz B. Peta, metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of Mary Most Holy in Astana, who will read the Pope’s Message for EXPO 2017. The Catholic choir “Soli Deo gloria”, founded in 2000 in the diocese of Novosibirsk, Russia, will also participate.

Finally, on 3 September at 16.00, at the Nazarbayev University, a conference will be held entitled “Energy for our Common Home”, organised by the dicastery in collaboration with the aforementioned university. The event, which has the aim of exploring the different aspects of the use of energy in the near future within the context of a broader reflection on the integral development of the person, will be attended by academics, experts in the sector, and representatives of the United Nations, Catholic charitable agencies and multinational companies engaged in the field of renewable energies.