Pope Francis called today for respect of national sovereignty and "coexistence" as he arrived in Georgia but seemed to dodge potential Russian ire at the start of a visit to the volatile Caucasus region.
The pontiff was greeted warmly by President Giorgi Margvelashvili and the leader of the Georgian Orthodox church, Patriarch Ilia II, at the start of the three-day visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan that the Vatican has billed as a peace mission.
Pro-Western Georgia -- one of the world's oldest Christian nations -- fought a brief war with Russia in 2008 and two Moscow-backed breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which remain out of Tbilisi's control.
After meeting with the pontiff, Margvelashvili thanked him for supporting Georgia's territorial integrity, saying that "20 percent of the Georgian territory remains under occupation" by the Russian troops.
But in a speech in the presidential palace's courtyard before government officials, civil society leaders, and foreign diplomats, Francis did not mention Russia, nor the word "occupation."
Apparently wary of irritating the Kremlin and Russia's powerful Orthodox Church, Francis only made general calls for "the respect of sovereign prerogatives of all countries within the framework of international law."
"Coexistence between all peoples and states in the region" is "an indispensable precondition" for peace and stability, he said.
On Sunday, Francis is due in Azerbaijan, where he will meet with, among others, President Ilham Aliyev, just days after the authoritarian leader won a referendum on constitutional changes seen as consolidating his grip on power.
While in the energy-rich country, Francis is expected to reiterate the call he made three months ago in Armenia for a peaceful resolution of the long-simmering conflict over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.
Officially part of Azerbaijan, the territory has been under the control of ethnic Armenian separatists since 1994, when a war between the two countries ended in a ceasefire but no formal peace accord.
Since then, there have been sporadic outbursts of violence, including one in April that left 110 people dead.
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