Pope to visit Azerbaijan

The Vatican has announced that Pope John Paul II will visit Azerbaijan next month, on a trip that will also take him to Bulgaria.

The Vatican's representative in Baku, Claudio Gugerotti, said that despite suffering from ill-health the Pope was already preparing for the visit.

The head of the Roman Catholic church visited Armenia and Georgia last September, and promised at the time to visit Azerbaijan later.

The mainly Muslim country has a tiny Roman Catholic community; correspondents say it numbers less than 100.

However, Mr Gugerotti said the message of the Pope's visit would be how people of different faiths could live together. The Pope will arrive in Azerbaijan on 22 May.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service