The Catholic community in Kazakhstan is small and consists of people from culturally different rites and communities. There are many Eastern-rite Catholics—in fact, one of the testimonies the Pope heard was from the Ukrainian wife of a Greek Catholic priest. She thanked the Pope for the efforts he is making for peace in her country.
She is a teacher and has four children—she has lived in Kazakhstan for 10 years, accompanying her husband in his ministry among Catholics of the Byzantine rite.
There are also many foreign people who are not from Kazakhstan and belong to different Latin-rite congregations.
FULL TEXT OF SPEECH:
Your Holiness,
I am Miroslava Galushka, wife of a Greek Catholic priest, mother of four children, and a teacher. For the past ten years, I have been helping my husband minister to the faithful Catholics of the Byzantine rite in Kazakhstan. I am thankful to the Lord that my husband responded to the call of the Holy Spirit and decided to leave his homeland to come and minister in Kazakhstan. He shares life with people whom the Lord puts on the path of Christian faith, sustained by the love of God and the joy of the Gospel.
I am very happy that God has given me this unique opportunity to stand before the Successor of the Apostle Peter, to address you and to ask for your blessing that the Almighty may grant me to bring His love to the world and to be a living example of His presence among men. Holy Father, you have come to Kazakhstan as a messenger of peace. I thank you for your prayers and for all your efforts to restore peace in my homeland of Ukraine. May the Lord hear your prayers!
JRB
TR: AT
