Frail Pope John Paul II has failed to complete his speech after arriving in the ex-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan for a two-day visit.

The five-day trip to Azerbaijan and Bulgaria that began on Wednesday is the first of a gruelling series of overseas tours that will test the 82-year-old pope's stamina, in defiance of critics who would like to see him retire. Speaking at Baku airport at the start of the trip aimed at promoting harmony among religions, he said: "Here at the gateway to the East, not far from where armed conflict continues to prevail, cruelly and senselessly... I ask religious leaders to reject all violence as offensive to the name of God, and to be tireless promoters of peace and harmony."

But a few minutes into his Russian-language speech, the pope stepped aside and an aide finished reading it. The Pope is scheduled to visit Canada, Mexico and Guatemala in July and his native Poland in August. There is also talk of a trip to Croatia in September. The pontiff was welcomed to the mostly-Muslim nation by President Geidar Aliev, who has expressed hopes for Vatican intervention in the stalemate with neighbouring Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aliev, who greeted the pope backed by an honour guard and military band, said: "Your visit to countries where Islam is widespread, including Azerbaijan, serves peace and mutual confidence between two big worldwide religions." The pope then headed to a monument to those killed in Nagorno-Karabakh and in a nationalist uprising put down by Soviet tanks in 1990. He was to meet Aliev later on Wednesday. John Paul, slowed by the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and knee and hip ailments, has made clear he has no intention of stepping down or stopping the trips that have been the hallmark of his 24-year papacy.

A special baggage truck with a mobile platform was moved up to the Alitalia plane at the Baku airport to carry the pope from the plane to the ground so he would not have to use the stairs.

At appearances over the weekend -- it was his birthday on Saturday -- John Paul had appeared markedly frail and there was concern he would not be able to make the trip, the first foreign tour this year. But on Sunday, after struggling to lead a long ceremony in St. Peter's Square, the pope hinted he would carry on, saying that he drew comfort from "the assurance of special prayers" for him to continue. There was one first on the visit. After 23 years in the papacy, he is staying in a hotel for the first time.

John Paul's two-day visit to Azerbaijan includes a mass at a sports arena and meetings with President Aliev. How big a crowd he will draw at the mass is open to speculation as the Roman Catholic community in the former Soviet-ruled republic was only registered in 1999 and has just 150 parishioners, half of them expatriates.

Because the local church had no lodging fit for a pope, the pontiff will depart from tradition and stay at the four-star, 15-room Irshad Hotel located next to a city park, although with a sea view.

Hotel director Vugar Mirzoyev said when Vatican representatives approached him last month, he had no idea it was the pope who needed a roof over his head. After John Paul leaves, Mirzoyev plans to do something with the room to commemorate the stay of what will have been the hotel's most famous guest. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has left 30,000 people dead, more than a million homeless and 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory under de facto Armenian control. A cease-fire has been in effect in the enclave since 1994.

Aliev came to power in what was essentially a bloodless coup in 1993 and was re-elected in 1998 in a vote criticized as flawed by international observers. The ageing leader has made it clear that he hopes his son succeeds him in office. Vatican representatives have said John Paul chose to visit the country because it lies at the crossroads of East and West and is an example of religions living together. On Friday, the pope goes on to Bulgaria, where he hopes to strengthen relations with Orthodox Christians.

The pope's faltering appearance at an audience with 6,000 children to celebrate his 82nd birthday on Saturday renewed speculation he may be on the verge of announcing his retirement due to illness. On Sunday, a day after he turned 82, John Paul appeared almost exhausted during a two-and-a-half hour ceremony to raise five religious workers to sainthood. But his public thanks for those praying for him was taken as a deliberate attempt in his own words to answer those -- including some cardinals -- who are raising the possibility that his frail health will force him to resign.