BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Pope Francis arrived in Azerbaijan on Sunday for a 10-hour visit aimed at encouraging the country's inter-religious harmony while likely overlooking recent criticism of a referendum that extends the president's term and powers.

Francis' first stop was to celebrate Mass for Azerbaijan's tiny Catholic community. The second-largest Shiite Muslim nation after Iran has fewer than 300 Azeri Catholics. Several thousand foreigners make up the rest of the Catholic community, and Azeri Jews, Zoroastrians and other minorities round out Azerbaijan's religious mix.

Francis was due to meet with the region's Muslim sheik and representatives of all the main faiths as well as President Ilham Aliyev before heading back to Rome after a weekend Caucasus visit that first took him to Georgia.

Francis has denounced the use of violence in God's name and has stressed the need for greater interfaith dialogue. In many ways, Azerbaijan is seen in the Vatican's eyes as a model of religious tolerance given the interfaith harmony that characterizes relations among Muslims, Christians and Jews.

The Catholic Church where Francis celebrated Mass, for example, was built with the financial help of Muslims and Jews, according to the Salesian priests who preside there. The Azeri government donated a plot of land on the outskirts of the capital after St. John Paul II visited in 2002, but it took the help of non-Christians to get the structure built.

"You are a little flock that is so precious in God's eyes," Francis told the more than 400 people in the church and another 450 who followed the Mass outside in the courtyard.

Catholic Masses in Azerbaijan are primarily in English and, to a lesser extent, Russian as the Vatican has yet to approve an Azeri-language liturgy. Francis delivered his homily in Italian but otherwise celebrated the liturgy in English.

"I cannot contain my boundless joy," parishioner Eva Agalarova, 61, said of Francis' visit. "It is both joy and happiness that the faith gives me."

The half-dozen Salesian priests who minister to Azerbaijani Catholics planned to give Francis a hand-woven carpet depicting both the church and the Maiden's Tower, a 12th century bastion in Baku's walled old city that is probably Azerbaijan's most recognizable structure. Azerbaijan is famed for its magnificent carpets.

Last week, Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission said more than 80 percent of voters in the former Soviet republic backed a constitutional amendment extending the presidential term from five to seven years. Other provisions grant the president the right to dissolve parliament, and create new vice presidential jobs and cancel age limits.

Aliyev's opponents, as well as human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Freedom House, said the moves would cement a dynastic rule in the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation. The Azerbaijani government has rejected the criticism, saying the constitutional amendments are intended to cut the red tape and speed up economic reforms.

It wasn't known if Francis would press Aliyev on the issue or broader criticisms of alleged human rights abuses and suppression of dissent. The Catholic Church enjoys good relations with the government, and Francis likely won't want to rock the boat given the precariousness of his small flock here.

Local Azeri media hasn't given much attention to the visit, but Baku's Muslim residents still welcomed Francis' presence.

"Islam is a tolerant religion and it accepts all faiths," a Muslim woman, Aygun Mikayilova, said. "I will welcome the pope's visit if he is bringing a message of peace, calm and tolerance."

Aliyev, in office since succeeding his father in 2003, has firmly allied the Shiite Muslim nation with the West, helping secure its energy and security interests and offset Russia's influence in the strategic Caspian region.

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