MUNICH, APR 18 (ZENIT.org).- The Apostolic Administration of Atyraü, Kazakhstan, has just received government approval, according to its Polish apostolic administrator, Fr. Janusz Kaleta. He explained to "Aid to the Church in Need" that this change will make his apostolic work much easier.

    The Vatican erected the Administration (the precursor of a diocese) in August of last year. Fr. Kaleta has been in Kazakhstan since the end of September. He has already started construction of a chapel and parish center in Atyraü. Before now, in the area of the Apostolic Administration (about the same area as all of Germany), there was exactly one parish, in the city of Aqtöbe (Aktyubinsk).

    About half of Kazakhstan's residents are ethnic Kazakhs, who are mostly Sunni Muslims. The rest of the population, mostly Russians, generally belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church. There are about 330,000 Catholics among the 15 million residents of the country, most of whom are descendants of Poles, Lithuanians, and Germans deported by Stalin. A 1998 agreement between Kazakhstan and the Vatican guarantees Catholics relative freedom in practicing their religion. ZE00041821