http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010919/ts/pope_security_1.html

Soldiers to Protect Pope's Visit By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican (news - web sites) is playing down the risks, but Kazakstan is mobilizing more than 2,000 soldiers and police to protect Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II when he begins a visit to the volatile Central Asian region on Saturday.

Kazakstan says the measures are unprecedented following the terrorist attacks in the United States. An aide said John Paul, reportedly targeted in the past by Islamic militants, insisted on making the trip, part of his efforts for better relations with non-Catholics.

The sprawling country shares borders with three other former Soviet republics - Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - that have sporadically battled incursions by Islamic radicals since 1999. The insurgents, believed to be trained in Afghanistan (news - web sites), appear to be aiming to carve out an Islamic state in the region.

Of the 15 million people in Kazakstan, some 8 million are Muslims and 6 million are Orthodox Christians, with a tiny Catholic community of 360,000, many of them from families deported to Central Asia in the Stalinist years.

``There wasn't a debate on whether the pope should go, although the security issue was raised,'' papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said this week. ``The decision was left to John Paul.''

The frail, 81-year-old pope will spend four days in Kazakstan, then make a two-day visit to Armenia before returning Sept. 27 to Rome.

Kazak Foreign Minister Bulat Iskakov said this week that 2,400 Interior Ministry police and troops would guard the Kazak capital, Astana, during the pope's stay.

``The security measures will be unprecedented in connection with the recent terrorist attacks in the United States,'' Iskakov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

As always during his foreign travels, about a half dozen Vatican security men will fly with John Paul aboard his Alitalia jetliner from Rome. They will join up with a small security contingent sent directly from the Vatican to Kazakstan.

The bulk of security, as always, is left to the local government.

In the past, the Vatican has not hesitated to drop a trip for security reasons. John Paul canceled stops in Northern Ireland in 1981 and Sarajevo in 1994 because security could not be ensured.

The threat from Islamic militants was reportedly raised during an Asian tour six years ago.

Philippine police say that Ramzi Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, had planned to kill the pope when John Paul visited the Philippines in January 1995. Yousef was arrested in Pakistan the following month after fleeing from Manila after police discovered the alleged plot.

The Italian press has carried speculation that the Vatican, following the U.S. attacks, is a target of Islamic terrorists and that St. Peter's Basilica could be a target.

But a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, told reporters Sunday there was no evidence to back the reports.

The Vatican views Kazakstan as important for furthering the pope's efforts to reach out to Muslims and Orthodox Christians. His unprecedented visit to a mosque in Syria in May was intended to promote Christian-Muslim dialogue.

The trip will be another physical test for John Paul, who walks with difficulty and suffers from symptoms of Parkinson's disease (news - web sites) that include slurred speech and trembling hands. In recent months, he has begun wearing a hearing aid at times.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

Answers

This article struck me because of all of the talk of "something" on the 22nd.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

A friend of the Hungarian's finally managed to get back from Paris yesterdya and said "everyone" in Europe is talking about something big happening but I thought he said tomorrow, not the 22nd. Well, maybe he thought they said "vingt" Instead of "vingt-deux."

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001