The Vatican on Thursday opened an exhibition devoted to art treasures
from oil-rich Azerbaijan -- one of the few predominantly Muslim
countries with which it enjoys close ties.
President Ilham
Aliyev's wife Mehriban and Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the
Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, inaugurated the show.
A
foundation headed up by Mehriban Aliyev earlier this year financed the
restoration of the early Christian catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter in
Rome.
The Vatican said Azerbaijan was "a secular nation that
encourages dialogue and multiple faiths".
On a visit by Ravasi to Baku
last year, Azerbaijan agreed to recognise the legal authority of the
Catholic Church on its territory.