Ethnic Kazakhs are predominately Sunni Muslim, the most commonly practiced religion in the country. According to a 2009 national census, the second most practiced religion is Russian Orthodox Christianity, at more than 20%. The central Asian country is also home to many immigrants.
Last year, Pope Francis erected an apostolic administration for Byzantine Catholics in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, highlighting the growing number of Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the country, which some estimates state to be around 10,000 in number.
The Holy See established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Kazakhstan in October 1992, just 10 months after its founding in December 1991.
Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country, at 1,052,100 square miles. But with a population of around 18.3 million, it has one of the lowest population densities. The country shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan and adjoins part of the Caspian Sea.
Bakayev, Kazakhstan's ambassador to the Holy See, was received by Pope Francis at the Vatican Dec. 4 to present his letter of credentials.
Pope Francis addressed Bakayev and nine other new ambassadors, saying it was his hope "that your diplomatic activity as representatives of your nations to the Holy See will foster the 'culture of encounter' needed to transcend the differences and divisions that so often stand in the way of realizing the high ideals and goals proposed by the international community."
He added: "Each of us is invited, in fact, to work daily for the building of an ever more just, fraternal and united world."
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.