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Rome (AsiaNews) – “A gateway between East and West” is how John Paul II, the first pope to visit Azerbaijan, described the country in 2002. Pope Francis echoed this on 2 October 2016, in his address at an interfaith meeting in Baku with the Shaykh of the Muslims of the Caucasus and representatives of the country's other religious communities.
“There is here a desire to protect the great heritage of religions and, at the same time, a pursuit of deeper and more fruitful openness,” Francis said. “The Catholic Church, for example, finds a place and lives in harmony among other religions that have far more members, demonstrating concretely that it is not opposition but cooperation that helps to build better and more peaceful societies.”
The reciprocal visits, diplomatic relations, and ongoing ties fostered by the two states underpin two initiatives that have recently seen the Embassy of Azerbaijan to the Holy See collaborate with various Vatican institutions.
Yesterday, the documentary Harmony was screened during an event organised in partnership with the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
Three Azerbaijani carpets dedicated to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism were also unveiled today as part of the Heavenly Religions exhibition at the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum of the Vatican Museums, in collaboration with the Governorate of Vatican City State.
Diplomatic relations since 1992
Diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Azerbaijan were established in 1992, a few months after the country declared its independence (18 October 1991). Previously it established its first republic in 1918, which, although short-lived (until 1920), holds the distinction of being the first secular republic in the Muslim world.
Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority country with a government that shows interest in its Christian cultural heritage, particularly through the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which is sponsoring the two events currently held at the Vatican.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was inaugurated in Baku in 2008, and the foundation stone for a second Catholic church, currently under construction, was laid in 2024.
A focus on interreligious dialogue has fostered conversations and cooperation, leading to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Interreligious Dialogue on 28 July 2025, between the State Committee on Work with Religious Institutions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Holy See’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
Ilgar Mukhtarov, Azerbaijan’s first ambassador to the Holy See following the opening of the embassy in 2021, talked about the initiatives his office has been involved in during this period.
Speaking about the documentary Harmony, he said that, “For Azerbaijan, harmony is not simply a theme or an aspiration; it is a way of life that we wish to preserve and share with the international community."
The film portrays this reality through three young Azerbaijani women, a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew: Jamila, Sofia, and Nigar.
“These three women are of different religious backgrounds," the ambassador noted, "yet very similar in their daily lives, their aspirations, and the way they experience their country."
We asked Ambassador Mukhtarov how he would summarise the documentary’s message: “Different faiths need not erase their differences in order to coexist. Harmony means respecting those differences while recognising the values we share."
Threads coming together
The concept of difference as a source of richness lies at the heart of the Heavenly Religions exhibition at the Vatican Museums, which was presented today by Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State; Ambassador Ilgar Mukhtarov; and Dr Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums.
"Each carpet represents a distinct faith and its specific cultural and artistic language, but when viewed together, they convey a broader message: diverse traditions can coexist while sharing fundamental human values such as peace, compassion, and justice," the ambassador said.
The decision to create works using the art of carpet weaving speaks volumes about the culture of Azerbaijan; indeed, it is a practice passed down from generation to generation that, since 2010, has been included by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
For Ambassador Mukhtarov, a “carpet thus becomes a kind of language. It is created by weaving together individual threads, and the complete image emerges only when these threads unite. It is a powerful metaphor for society: diversity does not weaken the whole; rather, it is precisely what creates its richness”.
The handmade carpets, based on designs by Azerbaijani artist Eldar Mikayilzada, were presented to Pope Leo XIV by the First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva, in October 2025, and will be on public display at the Vatican Museums starting today.
