April 25, 2008 - 14:51 AMT
Pope calls for human values protection in South Caucasus
Pope Benedict XVI called on Catholic priests in the South Caucasus "to protect the values of family and human life against the mentality filled into the society during communist rule."

Receiving prelates serving in Catholic parishes in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, The Pope said that "after the USSR decline the people living there still experience hardships."

"There are poor and homeless people, refugees," he said. "However, despite the 20th century events, Catholicism was preserved in the Caucasus," he added, ITAR-TASS reports.