APOSTOLIC VOYAGE TO TURKEY

Sales of novel on Benedict’s murder soar ahead of Pope’s visit

Istanbul, Nov. 24, 2006 (CNA) - Sales of a controversial Turkish novel about a conspiracy to kill Pope Benedict XVI are soaring ahead of the pontiff's historic visit to Turkey next week, reported AKI.

“The Plot against the Pope”, by Yuvel Kaya, has Opus Dei, a subversive Masonic lodge, and the CIA colluding to make the Pontiff's murder a pretext for a U.S. attack against Iran.

The book cover features Benedict XVI in front of a burning cross with a bearded gunman aiming a rocket launcher at him.

Lale Yilmaz of Kabalci, one the country's biggest book stores, told AKI that sales are picking up, despite the absence of advertising. However, she said she could not give exact sales figures.

Zeynep Yaman an employee of Alfa Dagitim, one of the six companies distributing the books, told AKI that more copies of the book have been bought over the last 10 days than at any other time. To date, about 10,000 copies have been sold, which is considered high in Turkey, Yaman added.

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La Repubblica today has an interview with Mr. Kaya, during which he says that the occupation of Ayasofya confirms his worst fears about what some extremists may do, and that therefore, 'anything is possible' in terms of actual attempts on the life of the Pope.


Yucel Kaya with his book.
Photograph from korazym.org

He reiterated what he said in a previous interview that his main concern is - if something happens to the Pope, it would boomerang on Turkey. Maybe he should have thought of that before writing his opportunistic novel.

He says, however, that he is against people using Ayasofya - declared a museum in 1925 - for prayer, whether they 'bow in the direction of Mecca or otherwise."


Interior of Ayasofya.

He is obviously too late protesting because according to another report in the Italian papers by a correspondent in Istanbul, there is now a mosque on the grounds of Ayasofya which is attracting regular Friday crowds who come to pray.

Apparently, it started as a small building erected a few months back, which some faithful began using as a 'chapel', and soon, minarets were added, from which the muezzin's call goes over loudspeakers reaching up to the Topkapi palace complex and the Blue Mosque.

There are those who oppose it as a clear violation of the 'secularization' of Ayasofya effected by Ataturk, but apparently, some Islamist groups have formally petitioned the government to allow the mosque there.

Obviously, however, the authorities in charge of Ayasofya approved of all this, and probably initiated it by putting up that building to begin with (on the pretext it was meant to temporarily store certain objects while parts of the museum were being restored).

Those who occupied Ayasofya say they don't want the Pope to pray there, but they themselves began their protest by praying.

Then again, who expects reason from bigots?

Back to Kaya, he says he's already writing a sequel to his novel which will be about "the aftermath of the killing and a war between Iran and the United States."

The story on Kaya begins with the reporter saying how all the bookstores along Istanbul's main shopping street prominently have Kaya's book in the windowcases, with the Pope on the cover.

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Here is a translation of the editorial commentary written by Joaquin Navarro Valls for La Repubblica of 11/24/06, oposted by Lella in the main forum:


The Pope in Turkey:
The trip of a thousand years
By JOAQUIN NAVARRO-VALLS

We won't see the Popemobile when Benedict XVI travels to Turkey in a few days. It was first used when John Paul II made his first trip to Mexico in 1979.

Contrary to what some think that the Popemobile is intended for the Pope's protection, it is really to make the Pope more visible to the faithful.

Only after the assassination atetmpt on the Pope in 1981 were changes introduced to the closed Popemobile, which now has bulletproof glass which allows the Pope to be seen by the people but also provides some degree of security.

But there will be no crowds for the Pope in Turkey. The few Christians who live in Istanbul - and the fewer still who live in Ankara - will not be out on the streets but will be inside their local churches to wait for him.

The authorities most involved with the Pope's visit will be more interested in showing themselves off in their newfound robes of progressives belonging to a fusion of nationalists withthe fundamentalist wing of Islam. This is an alarming reality that explains why, for domestic reasons, Turkey's top leaders have chosen to 'snub' the Pope.

The Turkish state is fairly recent. It was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923, as a rigorously secular state. The present Constitution - despite two coups and several years of economic crisis - has maintained that non-religious character.
The singularity of Istanbul, ancient Constantinnople, is in being the crossroads for three great monotheistic religions: Catholicism, Orthodox christianity and Islam.

Benedict XVI will be the third Pope in modern times to visit Turkey. The first was Paul VI in 1967, whose historic meeting with the Patriarch Athenagoras was a significant stage in Christian ecumenism. The second was John Paul II's visit in 1979.

In both cases, neither Pope made any reference to the Muslim majority in Turkey. Paul VI, citing Nostra Aetate, addressed a few formal words of greeting in French to the Muslim religious leader of Istanbul. John Paul II, meeting with Turkish authorities, did not even once say the word Islam.

This was fundamentally out of respect for the laicity of the Turkish state and the form of the Republic that was inaugurated by Ataturk, as well as a respect for freedom of religion.

Now, the situation has changed a lot. On the one hand, there is the great question of human rights which has impeded the admission process of Turkey into the Europpean Union, and on the other, the issue of Islam.

The Islamic question arose from the explosion of Islamic integralism in Turkey after September 11, 2001, and has made Benedict XVI's visit particularly sensitive. Many are even questioning the wisdom of a trip that has very little to do with the politics of the moment.

If the integralist reaction in Turkey after the Pope's Regensburg lecture speaks for itself, relations with the Orthodox Christians appear to be very promising.

As we know, the two great Christian churches - East and West - were parallel but united in the first millennium, and separated during the second.

The Great Schism formally took place in 1054 when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I Cerularius excommunicated each other. But this institutional divorce only formalized a cultural and linguistic separation batween the two churches that began even at the time of the Church Fathers.

Some historians have said that the primary reason for the schism was the primacy claimed by the Bishop of Rome over the four Patriarchs of the Oriental Church, but one must consider the political motives that were actually in play, above all, the relationship between religion and politics.

Whereas in the West, the clear distinction between Church and State - or, as the title of a work by the French canonist Ugo de Fleury called it, between "Royalty and Priesthood" - had been established from the time of Pope Gelasius I, this distinction was never even thought about in the East.

In the fourth century, Constantinople became the capital of the world. The Emperor of the Orient was at the same time King and High Priest, without a clear distinction between religion and politics.

In the same way, Islam has not always distinguished between these two planes, and the secular integrity claimed by the Turkish state creates confusion among their Muslim citizens.

But Benedict's visit to Turkey is not about Islam.

It must be recognized that a significant development today is the good relations that have been established between the Orthodox Patriarchate and the Catholic Church. On this visit, their two heads will be taking part in each other's rites.

The Pope will attend Orthodox rites at the Phanar, and the patriarch will attend Mas at the cathedral of Istanbul. The Pope and the Patriarch talk to each other, write each other, send invitations to each other which are accepted and reciprocated.

No one could have predicted such events 100 years ago or even 50 years ago. If Paul VI's visit at the time seemed unique, a feat without precedent in ecumenism, today there is an established and familiar reciprocity between the two Churches.

On the other hand, the situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey today could not be worse. It often results in a state of emergency for Catholics as well as for the Orthodox.

This is a situation that is analogous to conditions in the first millennium, when the Pope and the Patriarch, despite their differences, considered themselves united in the defense of religious freedom.

That is why we cannot ignore the important expectations that the Orthodox Christians have about the Pope's presence in Turkey with respect to defending human rights.

Not long ago, the Patriarch said that everyone expects the Pope to make an explicit declaration in 'defense of minorities" - a euphemism for the right to religious freedom, especially the right to authentic expression of their respective rites of worship.

For the moment, the attitude of the Pope is different from that of any other religious head, Christian or not. He brings with him a testimony of abnegation and seriousness to show the exclusively religious sense of the mission he is undertaking.

He is not acting out of any political motive, nor to gain anything politically out of it, if only because under the circumstances he would never even think of making such a trip at such a time.

He is going to the East to carry a message of solidarity and peace, to give personal testimony of the effort and the responsibility that such a commitment requires, very much as John Paul II personally went to the Holy Land to bring to Israel a message of forgiveness.

But this time the letter Benedict XVI brings will not be left at a Wailing Wall. He will deliver it personally with the warmth - as well as the risk to himself - of his physical presence.

These expectations are not marginal, because in Turkey, religious minorities suffer from juridical recognition which would protect their respective identities and promote mutual rapport among each other, and because their right to freedom of religion under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an irrenounceable element of international legitimization [i.e.,that Turkey must prove it respects before it can be admitted to the EU].

But the Pope is really travelling down a road that began in the past, a journey that has lasted a century and whose pace has picked up in the past several years.

To carry a message of close identification always implies - beyond the risk of being 'used' - a generous openness that is not exclusively political, that cannot be limited to a calculation of common interests that may be served.

In this case, it is not about unifying or defending the West against the expansion of integralist violence, nor to castle the Church behind a moat. For the Pope and the Patriach, it means listening to each other, showing each one his authentic self, how he thinks, his values, his ideas, his convictions.

Truly, what impels the Pope towards the meeting in Istanbul is very much what Thomas Mann called 'unpolitical considerations.' Today, more than ever, it is important that both sides in the ecumenical dialog take a daring step forward, whatever it may cost them personally.

It is evident that we are facing a great historic appointment, and this important meeting of mutual recognition of a common identity will only be realized with full concurrence on both sides, and if all concerned have the courage to overcome the most dangerous and insidious fear of all, which is a terror of confronting the right time when it comes.

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korazym.org is on the ball in Turkey...


A visit to the Blue Mosque?
A meeting with Erdogan
at Ankara airport?
By Mattia Bianchi

New things appear to be developing on the very eve of the Pope's visit to Turkey.

Now, there's talk of a visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque, according to reports in the Turkish papers today. The Turkish govenment and the Vatican are reportedly working this out.

The news stories say it was proposed by Ali Bardakoglu, president for religious affairs, as a 'gesture of openness' by the Pope "so as not to give the impressione he was only interested in visiting St. Sofia" (ex-Byzantine basilica, turned mosque, and now a state museum).

Although it was said that the Holy See is still weighing the proposal, the news agency ANSA has reported that the Vatican has 'accepted.'

But Apcom quotes Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican press officer, as saying the proposal was still 'under study' and 'would be considered seriously.'

Clearer at tthis time is Prime Minister Erdogan's apparent reconsideration of a possible meeting with the Pope. Speaking on a Muslim channel, TGRT, Erdogan said that "If the schedule can be worked out, there is a possibility I may be able to meet the Pope at the airport in Ankara when he arrives."

Up till now, Erdogan has been saying he must attend the NATO summit in Riga on November 28-29, and that on November 30, he would be presiding at an all-day meeting of his defense council.

In the same broadcast, Erdogan critizized the planned 'massive' demonstration Sunday by the radical Islamic party Saadet.

"We don't approve the attitude of these marginal groups who are calling on the Pope not to come to Turkey," he said.

Meanwhile, the security mechanisms for the Pope's trip are in full gear and everything seems to be under control for now.

"We are not worried," Fr. Lombardi said. "Turkey is very well able to provide the necessary security for this trip. No particular problems have come up."

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, was quoted as saying, "The demonstrations that have taken place or are announced are part of the give-and-take inherent in freedom of expression."


And here's the later AP report :


Turkish PM may briefly meet pope


ANKARA, Turkey - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will be out of Turkey when Pope Benedict XVI visits next week, said Friday they may meet briefly at the airport if their arrival and departure times coincide.

Erdogan will be attending a NATO summit in Latvia during the pope's Nov. 28-Dec. 1 visit, his first to a Muslim country.

Authorities predict massive protests for the trip by Benedict, who outraged Muslims with comments in September about Islam and violence. Newspapers have speculated Erdogan was trying to avoid a meeting because his Islamic-rooted party faces elections next year, but he has denied that.

In an interview with Turkey's private TGRT television, Erdogan said there might be an opportunity for a meeting at the airport if "the timings coincide."

The pope is also expected to meet Turkey's president and deputy premier.

Erdogan criticized campaigns inside Turkey aimed at preventing Benedict's visit. Anger over his comments on Islam has raised concern for his security during the visit.

Earlier this week, a group of nationalist Turks protesting the pope's visit briefly occupied the Haghia Sophia, a landmark Byzantine church that was turned into a mosque before becoming a museum. On Sunday, members of a pro-Islamic party were expected to hold a large protest in Istanbul to denounce his visit.

"The hospitality which we extend to our visitors will also be extended" to the pope, Erdogan told TGRT. "I do not approve of the attitude of some marginal groups. It is wrong. ... These attitudes have no place in our culture, in our values."

He called the visit an "important step toward the alliance of civilizations."

Earlier, a leading Turkish cleric said the visit could help build confidence and respect between religions.

Ali Bardakoglu, a cleric who as the head of the Religious Affairs Directorate sets the country's religious agenda, is scheduled to meet Benedict.

The official focus of the pope's trip is his scheduled meeting with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. But Benedict is widely expected to use his first visit to a Muslim country to improve relations with Muslims.

POSSIBLE VISIT TO BLUE MOSQUE

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the pope is considering a brief visit to Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque. It would be Benedict's first visit to a mosque as pope.

"I can confirm that the possibility of a brief stop at the mosque following a visit to the (Haghia Sophia) museum is being examined," Lombardi said.

Asked whether the visit would be meant as a gesture of goodwill toward Islam, Lombardi replied, "It certainly is a sign of respect."

Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited a mosque in Damascus, Syria, in 2001 — a papal first.

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If Erdogan does end up meeting the Pope in Ankara after all, then this writer for the British newspaper Guardian chose the wrong lead for his story. It is otherwise not a bad primer.

By the way, one gets the impression from almost all the news stories so far that compared to Paul VI and John Paul II before him, only Benedict is not truly welcome in Turkey. Neither were the two other Popes, for the simple reason that you can't expect Muslims - with their historical resentment about the Crusades (never mind that the Crusaders were simply trying to get back the Holy Sites that had come under Muslim control) - to be enthusiastic about the Roman Catholic Pontiff.

And so, both those earlier Papal visits were expressly framed as ecumenical visits to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, as Benedict's visit is primarily.

Protests also preceded John Paul's visit in 1979, and I believe that was the first time a man named Agca made the news because he announced he was going to try and kill the Pope, according to some backgrounders I read recently.

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Benedict in the lion's den

The Pope's visit to Turkey next week is so sensitive
even the prime minister is making himself scarce
By Mark Tran
Friday November 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

The Pope could be forgiven for feeling nervous when he visits Turkey next week for his first sojourn in a predominantly Muslim country.

The main reason for Benedict XVI's trip is to meet the Istanbul-based spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

The planned meeting is the latest attempt at rapprochement between Christianity's two great branches after the schism of 1054, which followed a long feud over papal authority and liturgical differences.

But inevitably, the world will focus on how the Pope is received by Turkey's 67 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.

So sensitive on various fronts is his visit that the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who leads an Islamist government, and his foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, have made themselves scarce. The two will be away at a NATO meeting throughout the visit. And Mehmet Aydin, the state minister responsible for the ministry of religious affairs, is off to Germany. The list of absentees prompted one Turkish commentator to jokingly speculate that the pontiff appeared to have an infectious disease.

So it has fallen to the deputy prime minister, Mehmet Ali Sahin, to lead the welcoming party for the Pope, who will also meet Muslim, Catholic and Jewish leaders.

The Pope brings a certain amount of baggage. He ensured an awkward reception in Turkey with a lecture at a German university on September 12 in which he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying the teachings of the prophet Muhammad were "evil and inhuman", particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

Despite being buried in a long academic discourse on violence and religion, the remarks triggered anger in the Muslim world. Many people are still smarting at the perceived slight, and Turkish Muslims are expected to turn out in force to show their disapproval.

The Islamist Felicity party plans to ferry 75,000 people by bus to Istanbul on Sunday to protest, days before the Pope's arrival. In anticipation of large demonstrations during his visit, Turkish police and troops are on full alert and navy commandos will patrol the Bosphorus Straits in inflatable boats.

Turkish concern about the Pope predates his September comments: many remember his remarks in 2004, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that Turkey should build ties with the Islamic world rather than the EU. This is where the Pope's visit shades into politics.

Turkey is currently knocking at the door of the EU. But enlargement fatigue, now that membership stands at 25 countries, and doubts - especially in France and Germany - over whether Ankara belongs to the European club have dogged negotiations.

And the issue of Cyprus remains vexed, with Turkey refusing to open its ports to the divided island. Turkish officials say they will not compromise unless the EU lifts an international embargo against the northern, Turkish-speaking area, which Turkey alone recognises.

The EU has also accused Turkey of failing to protect religious minorities. "Turkey's approach to minority rights remains unchanged," the European commission said in a 2006 progress report earlier this month. "Non-Muslim religious communities have no access to legal personality and continue to face restricted property rights. They encounter problems in the management of their foundations and in recovering property by judicial means."

Christians have often complained of discrimination in Turkey, and Mr Erdogan has agreed to religious freedom as a precondition for EU admission. But the 32,000-member Catholic church, which has vicariates in Istanbul and Anatolia and an archdiocese at Izmir, is still demanding juridical recognition.

Turkey's treatment of Catholics obviously concerns the Pope, who has voiced his own worries at the lack of religious freedom of Christians in predominantly Muslim countries. The Pope has also said too many Muslim clerics are willing to tolerate, if not actively encourage, violence.

With so many currents, religious and political, no wonder Mr Erdogan decided to skip a meeting with this exalted guest. With presidential and parliamentary elections in 2007, the Islamist-led government of Mr Erdogan wants to avoid doing anything that offends his own nationalists and Islamist supporters. For the prime minister, the papal visit is nothing if not a hornet's nest.
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Well, what do you suppose is making Erdogan reconsider? Or is he merely putting on an act now so that Europe will think, "Oh, he's being courteous to a visiting head of state, after all" - and then he can say, "Oh, sorry...the schedules just won't gibe! I tried..." (Pshaw, as MaryJos or Clare would say! - you could have checked out such schedules long ago).

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ISKENDERUN, Turkey, NOV. 24, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Conventual Franciscan Friar Martin Kmetec describes Benedict XVI's forthcoming visit to Turkey as a "courageous gesture."

In this interview with ZENIT, Father Kmetec, a Slovenian missionary in Turkey, paints a picture of the nation the Pope will visit next week and explains that Catholics there are preparing for this event with hope.

The Pope will visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, in a nation in which the great majority of inhabitants is Muslim with a very small percentage of Catholics. Is an invitation to dialogue expected?
Of course, the contents of the Pope's addresses are not yet known; we will know them when he delivers them here.

However, we can be sure - the Pope himself has repeated it several times - that the invitation to dialogue will be the dominant note of his conversations and addresses. Above all, the intensification of dialogue with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which in a certain sense will be of interest not only to the Orthodox Church in Turkey but to the whole of Orthodoxy worldwide.

It can be foreseen that at the meetings with state authorities, interreligious and intercultural dialogue [and] the topic of human rights and freedom of conscience will be at the center of the conversations.

The same topic of dialogue will also be addressed at the meeting with Muslim religious authorities. However, there are prejudices that, in my opinion, will make this discussion difficult.

I remember that, when Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope, the media denigrated his image in a deplorable manner, especially the press of the two extremist currents: the nationalist and the Islamist.

Harping on the question of the Second World War, they accused him of being a former Nazi for having been part of the Nazi youth. However, more than anything else, the real reason for their aversion to him was unleashed following his statement [as cardinal] on the inopportuneness of Turkey's adherence to the European Union.

The fact that a public person like the Pope expressed his own opinion in opposition to Turkey's petition is an event that is not forgotten or forgiven. Moreover, the Regensburg episode has further inflamed the spirits opposed to the Pope's coming to Turkey.

The newspapers have made it known that the prime minister of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan, will not be in the country during the Pope's visit. Also absent will be Mehmet Aydin, in charge of the state's religious affairs. Abdullah Gul, the foreign minister, will not be there either.

These, perhaps, might be the signs to better understand the climate in which this visit will take place, though Benedict XVI in fact tries to minimize their importance.

Does President Tayyip Erdogan not want to compromise himself with his electors? Does this also express his line in regard to Christianity? Still alive is the memory of the assassination of Judge Yucel Ozbilgin [last May], killed by a bullet fired by a fanatic in the courtroom of the state's Constitutional Court during the hearing. The motivation for the killer's gesture: "The tribunal's decision on the question of the Muslim veil."

Then, Tayyip Erdogan did not attend the judge's funeral, during which thousands of people gave vent to their anger over the brutal crime.

Will we witness a similar reaction and political line?
Professor Ali Bardakoglu said that the State Executive for Religious Affairs will address religious, not political, aspects with the Pope, because we recognize him, he said, as religious head, though this meeting will not be able to erase the perplexity over negative political attitudes of the past.

Moreover, one cannot ignore the ill-temper of a not indifferent band of the population which recently organized acts of protests in Istanbul and Ankara, the recent diversion of the Turkish Airlines plan, the exchange of shots outside the Italian Consulate in Istanbul and other similar sporadic incidents that, in my opinion, give an indirect message to the Pope's visit: namely, that he will not be welcome in Turkey and, perhaps, make him change his mind and give up his visit.

His [the Pope's] is a courageous sign, and we pray that he will be able to give this country and these people the message of the humility and the great sense of humanity of Christ to all people of good will.

What is the Catholic reality in Turkey? How are Catholics preparing for this visit and what do they expect from the Pope?
Catholics in Turkey, those who are established, are close to 30,000. They are preparing spiritually for this visit with prayer.

An attempt is made in Sunday Masses to underline that Christians urgently need a spiritual renewal of life, according to the principles of the Gospel. This must be the fruit of the Pope's visit among us.

For this occasion, Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar of Anatolia, addressed a letter to his faithful on the topic of hope, which is essential not only for the Church of Anatolia but for all Turkey's Christians.

Our communities must face daily not a few difficulties of an economic order; above all, however, they must be able to react to an inferiority complex in the face of an oppressive Muslim majority, which makes them feel oppressed and can make them think that they are the "infidels."

Given the latest events, is there concern over security, or are only some isolated cases of intolerants to be feared?
I am sure that there are no problems in regard to the safety of the person of the Supreme Pontiff. The Turkish state will do everything possible so that this visit will unfold without major incidents.

One cannot exclude, however, some small demonstration or some isolated case of reaction, but certainly not in the course of the papal itinerary.

Can you give us a brief description of Islam in Turkey? What type of religiosity and social life does it engage in?
As every religion, Islam is a present element that penetrates the whole Turkish society: in public places - mosques; in people's lives - observance of fasting; and in common prayer. Religiosity is also expressed in external signs, such as women's veils, the great feast of the end of Ramadan, and the celebration of the sacrifice.

Secularization prevails in large cities, though no one gives up the celebration of religious feasts. Instead, in rural areas and small centers, religious life enjoys greater fidelity also in the classic expressions of religious praxis.

In Turkey, Sunni Islam is dominant, comprising 75% of the population; 25% are Alawites, a branch of the Shiites.

At the official level, beginning in 1923 with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [founder and first president of the modern republic of Turkey], the country became a lay state. Thus began for the country the period of progress.

"Kemalism," that is, the fundamental principles of the lay republic desired by Ataturk, is at the base of a modern state, the new Turkey.

The abolition of the caliphate, of the Muslim fraternities, or "tarikat," and the restriction of Islam, relegated to the private sphere, remained always as an open problem, which the movements and institutions of popular Islam, lived in the realm of mysticism, wished to reconquer.

In fact, after 1950, some political leaders wished to take advantage of the masses still anchored in popular Islam.

This marked the return of Islam to the political scene and was the cause of coups d'etat carried out by the military. Later it was the military men themselves who decided to give some freedom to the public expression of Islam.

Today, with the coming to power of the present AKP Party of Tayyip Erdogan, they have gained strength.

The lay movement in Turkey is opposed to Islam as a political system, but it seems to be only the army which intends to keep Turkey in the line of laicism.

The real question is if Islam will be truly disposed to giving up its concept of society and state and to recognizing the human rights of minorities, especially of the Alawites, who are not recognized as followers of a religion with its institutions and its identity.

Are there areas of common work with Muslims? Do you, personally, collaborate with them?
The areas of collaboration are very restricted. As a Franciscan Community, we live in open dialogue with all the people we meet. It is a way of presence, which stems from following St. Francis, a way of bringing hope and salvation to all men.

Except for Muslim-Christian symposiums, there is no other collaboration with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is not recognized by the state as a moral institution. This prevents the possibility of cooperation even in the charitable apostolate, though Caritas, as an organization of the Vatican State, provides considerable aid in the social realm.

However, the Christian community of faithful born in Turkey are happy enough if they can live in peace with others in their daily life, in work relationships and in simple interpersonal relations.

Is the Catholic Church seen as useful for teh public?
Lay politicians, especially the intellectuals, respect the Church, the Catholic faith and persons of the Church and see in the Church a positive sign of the life of the world.

But for the majority, the Catholic Church has no contribution to make and has no public utility. Certain influential currents in journalism regard us as intruders, bearers of strange ideas and of disturbance for Turkish society, intruders of whom it would be best to be liberated.

What do you think will be the meaning of this visit for the Turkish nation?
In my opinion, the state apparatus as well as the politicians want to give a good image and see the Pope's visit as a unique occasion of promotion on the international scene and, in particular, they want Europe to see Turkey's openness and tolerance. They play this visit as a card for their candidacy to the European Union. .

Not lacking, of course, will be those who are obstinate in their prejudices and will continue trying to present the Pope, the Church and Catholics with dark and negative colors.

================================================================

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They play this visit as a card for their candidacy to the European Union.

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What a paradox! On the one hand, they resent Benedict XVI for having expressed his views against the admission of Turkey into the EU when he was a cardinal and for the Regensburg citation, and now, despite all the difficulties and they have placed in the way of this visit and their continuing attempts to humiliate him in many little ways, they actually hope that if they can prevent anything bad from happening to him during this visit, they can use it to say to the EU, "See, we were on our best behavior. We deserve to be admitted!"

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For the 11/25/06 issue of DIE WELT, Paul Badde writes this article posted online today and translated here.

The oppression of the tiny non-Muslim minority in Turkey is poignantly epitomized by the Armenian Catholics who don't even want the Pope to say anything during this trip about the so-called Armenian genocide.

[From Wikipedia:
This refers to the forced mass evacuation and related deaths of hundreds of thousands to over a million Armenians, during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire.

A New York Times article on Dec. 15, 1915.

Although it is generally agreed that events comprising the Armenian Genocide did occur, the Turkish government and a few international historians reject the label genocide, and claim that the deaths among the Armenians were not a result of a state-sponsored plan of mass extermination, but of inter-ethnic strife, disease and famine during the turmoil of World War I."

NB: Pictures and stories of the Armenian genocide eerily resemble those we are familiar with, from the Jewish Shoah.]
================================================================
Please don't say a word
about the Armenians
By Paul Badde

Rome - The Pope's visit to Turkey next week will be very significant for the small Christian community as well as 'for all other religious minorities in a country that is at least 98 percent Muslim, according to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.

It cannot be forgotten that this land has played an extraordinarily prominent role in the history of Christianity. Even now, Bartholomew-I, Successor to St. Andrew, who only has about 2,000 church members in Istanbul's population of 14 million, is nevertheless considered the 'first among equals' among Orthodox patriarchs who have a combined following of more than 300 million worldwide.

But a look at Turkish policy in Cyprus, where the destroyed or profaned churches of the island's northern part gives us a taste of Turkey's attempt to 'obliterate Christianity from the collective memory' of the people, shows what a dangerous minefield the Pope must move through during this trip.

The militant Grey Wolves, who occupied Hagia Sophia for a short time Wednesday with strident protests aginast the Pope's visit, only served to underscore skepticism in Rome about this trip.

However, Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar in Anatolia, eastern Turkey, said the trip would be "an unrepeatable opportunity for reconsideration of the relationship between Christianity and Islam," though he admits that the difficulties cannot be overlooked.

The Capuchin bishop grieves over the present situation in Turkey. In the spring, he had to deal with the murder of Fr. Andrea Santoro as he was praying in his church at Trabzon by a teenager who shouted "Allahu akbar!' (God is great) as he shot him dead. This was long before the Pope's Regensburg lecture.

In the succeeding months, Bishop Padovese himself received many death threats, forcing him to seek police protection, through the offices of the Italian consul in the region.

Still, he says he understands the 'complex reality' in Turkey today. in which Christians increasingly feel insecure because of the concurrence between "nationalist groups and an increasing Islamization", which he attributes to the worsening economic situation.

At the same time, many Islamic groups are fearful that Turkey could lose its Islamic identity. Despite the enormous efforts at secularization since the 1920s, the belief still prevails that 'only a good Muslim can be a good Turk.'

The Catholic presence is extremely limited and found only in the large cities, mainly in the diplomatic community. Altogether, Roman Catholics, along with Catholics of the Armenian, Chalean and Syrian rites, and the surviving Jews who still speak a Spanish patois as descendants of Jews driven out of Spain 500 years ago, make up a very tiny and shrinking minority. This has been mainly the result of nationalistic purges and ethnic 'purification' drives in the past century. There is also a tiny surviving community of Christians in the cities of the Western coast, which dates back to the days of the Apostles Paul and John, and who still speak Greek.

The Armenian Catholic Bishop of Istanbul - whose Church and people in Turkey experienced the first genocide of modern times during the First World War - earenstly begged a TV reporter from Rome to please not touch on that issue at all, and to please convey it to the Vatican that even the Pope himself during his trip should avoid the subject. Please do not say a word about the Armenians!. Not a syllable about genocide! [They fear reprisals from the Turks if this topic were brought up, is that it? Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, who recently won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, was charged with the crime of 'insulting Turkishness' because he talked about the Armenian genocide to a German magazine in February 2005. .]

Otherwise, all Christians in Turkey, whatever rite they belong to, are extremely enthusiastic about the Pope's visit because they expect some positive results. However, they would like the Pope to know that they all favor Turkey's admission into the European Union because they think that will force Turkey to recognize freedom of religion as a fundamental human right. In contrast, only 60 percent of the Turkish majority were in favor of admission, but that has been going down as the influence of Islamic groups makes itself more and more felt.

In the view of Bishop Louis Pelatres, apostolic nuncio in Istanbul, there is no alternative to dialog between Christians and Muslims, but he thinks at the moment, it is important that the government give the churches juridical recognition. Otherwise, the Church cannot even buy buildings for schools. Without schools, the Church cannot provide Christian education, and without Christian schools, there is no Christian future in Turkey, he says.

"An Attack on the Pillars of Islam"
Spiegel Online

Ali Bardakoglu, 54, is Turkey's highest Muslim dignitary. SPIEGEL spoke to him about Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey next week and the reactions to the pontiff's Regensburg speech, widely noted for its criticism of Islam.

SPIEGEL: It's been 27 years since since a pope last visited Turkey, a Muslim country. What does the visit mean for your country?
Bardakoglu: Whenever a religious leader visits other countries, it means that religious leader is ready to engage in dialogue. That's important. If we want to get a grip on the world's problems, we have to speak to each other. Our problems don't originate in the religions themselves. The leaders can help ensure that people from various cultures develop an understanding for one another.

SPIEGEL: The pope is visiting you too. You've strongly criticized his Regensburg speech.

Bardakoglu: The pope's speech wasn't a critique. It turned against fundamentally sacred elements of Islam in a condemning manner. In this sense, it was flawed. It shouldn't have been that way, as the pope himself later came to understand.

SPIEGEL: Why does the Muslim world react to criticism so intensely?

Bardakoglu: We're always open to criticism. We also criticize ourselves when necessary. Islam and rationality very much go together. We're prepared to engage in an intellectual discussion about the relationship between faith and reason, religion and violence. We would also have a lot to say to Christians about this topic.

SPIEGEL: What was wrong with the speech?

Bardakoglu: It was an attack, strongly colored by prejudice, on the three pillars of Islam: faith, the Koran and the prophet Muhammad -- without any reference to a specific event from the history of Islam. Whoever portrays the Koran and the prophet as the causes of the problems hasn't understood Islam.

SPIEGEL: You spoke of the Pope having "hatred in his heart" and accused him of cultivating a way of thinking that resembles that of the crusaders.

Bardakoglu: A person who says the prophet is the source of violence, and that the Koran is the cause of the aberrations, isn't formulating criticism but rather condemning and insulting Islam. The fact that the speaker is merely repeating a quotation does not diminish the mistake.

SPIEGEL: Why doesn't the West understand the reactions in the Muslim world, in your opinion?

Bardakoglu: People's relationship to God, to the Bible, to Jesus isn't as strong in the West as it is in Islam. That's why the reactions triggered here are altogether different. The West makes the mistake of taking the relationships of its faithful to holy institutions as a benchmark, comparing them to Islam.

SPIEGEL: What would make dialogue easier?

Bardakoglu: Mutual respect. We have a principle in Islam that requires us not to talk about another religion or a religious leader in an insulting way. We also take action when Jesus is insulted, whom we consider an important prophet.
SPIEGEL: But there are attacks on Christians and on Christianity in the Muslim world, including in Turkey.

Bardakoglu: People with little knowledge, and sometimes with little self-confidence, don't engage in theological debate; instead, they choose the simple option of attacking another religion. That's dangerous, and we condemn it. We always call on people to react moderately, never violently. But some people's exaggerated reactions are also instrumentalized by those who want to fuel Islamophobia.

SPIEGEL: Do you want to bring up the Regensburg speech again?

Bardakoglu: I want to look forward. If the Pope doesn't raise the issue himself, I won't refer to it.

Interview conducted by Annette Grossbongardt.

I was just going to post the same item on Bardakoglu, which has more than set my teeth on edge. This story is datelined 11/24/06, and the interview must have been done in recent days. But his language here is perhaps even more harsh and outrageous than the original comments he made, which as far as I can tell, had been the first reported reaction from the Muslim world to Regensburg, two days after the lecture, opening the floodgates of hate and unreason.

This man is relentlessly hostile. He has a perfect right to say whatever he pleases, of course, but the more he comments about the Pope's lecture, the wilder his statements and unfounded generalizations get.

---

Bardakoglu: The pope's speech wasn't a critique. It turned against fundamentally sacred elements of Islam in a condemning manner. In this sense, it was flawed. It shouldn't have been that way, as the pope himself later came to understand.

SPIEGEL: What was wrong with the speech?

Bardakoglu: It was an attack, strongly colored by prejudice, on the three pillars of Islam: faith, the Koran and the prophet Muhammad -- without any reference to a specific event from the history of Islam. Whoever portrays the Koran and the prophet as the causes of the problems hasn't understood Islam.

SPIEGEL: You spoke of the Pope having "hatred in his heart" and accused him of cultivating a way of thinking that resembles that of the crusaders.

Bardakoglu: A person who says the prophet is the source of violence, and that the Koran is the cause of the aberrations, isn't formulating criticism but rather condemning and insulting Islam. The fact that the speaker is merely repeating a quotation does not diminish the mistake.

---

The statements he makes here are so evidently 'strongly colored by prejudice'- as he says so blindly of the Pope's lecture - that one need not bother to refute him.

The man has convinced himself that Benedict is ignorant of Islam, prejudiced against Islam, and therefore spiteful and insulting ('hatred in his heart'). He sounds like he wrote the slogan that is on all the anti-Pope posters in Istanbul, saying "This ignorant and insulting Pope should not come to Turkey."

Forget everything else he says - they're nothing but a poor attempt at window dressing.

But remember, this is the man who controls religious affairs in Turkey. Don't expect the religious minorities to get any fair treatment from him.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/11/2006 7.34]

Apparently, before every apostolic journey by the Pope, the Vatican's Office of Liturgical Celebrations prepares what is called in Italian 'Messale', the Missal, apparently.

Not only does it detail the liturgical rites that the Pope will take part in during the visit. It also gives a historical background and context to the trip.

I still am not clear whether there is an actual presentation made (I got the idea from a korazym report that Archbishop Marini, whose office prepares this, did an actual presentation in Munich for the Bavarian trip) or whether the material is simply posted on line, while the printed 'rite books' are prepared for distribution when and where the rites will take place. In any case, this one for Turkey finally came on line this week, so here it is.

The presentation also sets us right on the priorities of this trip, from the Church point of view - first pastoral, then ecumenical, then inter-religious.
===============================================================

PRESENTATION



The Significance of the Apostolic Journey

In the footsteps of his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has chosen to honour the land of Turkey with one of the first Apostolic Journeys of his Pontificate.

Turkey is spread over a vast region which, not without reason, has been called “the Holy Land of the Church”. It was there that the Christian community, particularly in the great centres of Antioch and Ephesus, became conscious of her identity and consolidated her growth.

There the Church opened out to the ancient world in a process of inculturation and adaptation which made her truly “catholic”, open to all cultural expressions. Furthermore, this land was the starting-point for the first evangelization of both the Far East and the Slav peoples.

It was not by chance that most of the writings that make up the New Testament originated in this land or were addressed to its Christian communities. Two of those biblical authors, Paul of Tarsus and Luke of Antioch, are among the first witnesses to a Church that in the course of the centuries saw a rich flowering of outstanding figures who left their mark on the whole of Christianity.

We need but recall the Cappadocian Fathers, and those of Antioch and the Syria, to say nothing of the ranks of martyrs and ascetics whom even today the liturgy offers us as models of Christian life.

The journey of the Bishop of Rome to Turkey takes place between two significant dates that recall those illustrious witnesses of the faith: the seventeenth centenary of the birth of Ephrem the Syrian (306) and the eighteenth centenary of the death of John Chrysostom (407).

Both are splendid rays of that “light from the East” which the Holy Father John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter Orientale Lumen (1994), wished to reaffirm, so that the universal Church would treasure the rich witness, wisdom and spirituality of the Christian East and would look back with nostalgia to the first Christian millennium, when the Church lived in unity.

In a pluralistic age like our own, the manifold riches of the various religious traditions, past and present, found in the land of Turkey bear witness to the fact that pluralism in liturgical and spiritual expressions, and unity of faith in Christ the Lord, can be combined harmoniously. The Holy Father has rightly spoken of dialogue as a “polyphony of cultures”.

This principle is true for the various Christian confessions, but it is also applicable to the dialogue between Christians and the followers of Islam. Shadows from the past cannot obscure the light radiating from the daily “dialogue of life”, the “dialogue of charity” and the “dialogue of religious experiences” which has marked relations here between Christians and Muslims.

The journey of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey is a part of this history, and must be understood in the light of that history. It is a pastoral journey, an ecumenical journey and a journey of dialogue with the Islamic world.

A pastoral journey

The Catholic Church in Turkey, with its various ritual expressions (Latin, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean) is a small minority in a prevalently Sunni Muslim world.

Like the Apostle Peter who, wrote a letter (1 Peter) from Rome to the Christian communities in diaspora in present-day Turkey, his Successor now speaks to those same communities, not only in words but also by his presence.

Saint Peter urged the Christians there “to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). In our own times, which have seen the rise and spread of forms of religious intolerance, Pope Benedict XVI, through the preaching of the word and the celebration of the sacraments, comes to confirm the Catholic community of Turkey in hope and in fidelity to Christ.

There will be two celebrations of the Eucharist with the Catholic faithful of Turkey. The first takes place at the national Marian shrine of Meryen Aria Evi (the House of Mother Mary) in Ephesus, the city where the Council of 431 proclaimed her divine maternity, but also where – according to a pious tradition – Mary dwelt for some time with Saint John. The shrine is a point of encounter and prayer for Christians and Muslims, who acknowledge in Mary the ever-virgin mother of Jesus, the woman chosen by God for the good of humanity.

The second Eucharistic celebration takes place on 1 December in Istanbul, in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit. Representatives of the various Eastern Rite Catholic communities in Turkey will take part in the Mass, which will be celebrated in the Latin rite; their presence will be emphasized by a number of ritual expressions proper to each Rite.

An ecumenical journey

From the very beginning of his Petrine ministry, Pope Benedict XVI has made commitment to ecumenism a priority of his Pontificate.

As he stated on 20 April 2005, in a homily delivered in the Sistine Chapel the day after his election, “the present Successor of Peter feels personally responsible in this regard, and is prepared to do everything in his power to advance the fundamental cause of ecumenism. In the footsteps of his predecessors, he is fully determined to encourage every initiative that seems appropriate for promoting contacts and understanding with the representatives of the different Churches and Ecclesial Communities”.

The Pope’s journey to Istanbul is to be seen against this background, and finds a first significant moment in his meeting of prayer and dialogue on 29 November with His Holiness Bartholomew I in the Patriarchal Cathedral. At the end of the common prayer, the relics of Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint John Chrysostom will be venerated.

The heart of the visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch takes place on 30 November, the liturgical memorial of the Apostle Andrew. The Holy Father’s participation in the Divine Liturgy is followed by a brief common prayer and the unveiling of a stone commemorating the last three Popes who visited the Patriarchate, and concludes with the reading and signature of a Joint Declaration by His Holiness and Patriarch Bartholomew I.

The ecumenical character of the journey of the Bishop of Rome to the Sister Churches of Turkey is also emphasized by a visit that same day to His Beatitude Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan at the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate.

The moment of personal encounter, common prayer and the unveiling of an inscription in Armenian and Turkish commemorating the visits of Paul VI, John Paul II and now Benedict XVI, is meant to signify the ties linking the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church.

In the same spirit of fraternal communion in Christ, the Holy Father later that afternoon receives, in the Papal Representation in Istanbul, the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop and several heads of Protestant communities.

A journey under the banner of interreligious dialogue

It is significant that the Holy Father’s first journey to a predominantly Muslim country begins in the very land from which Abraham, the common patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, undertook his journey of faith in God. It was from Harran, a village in present-day Turkey, that he set out in a spirit of total dependence upon God, trusting solely in the word that had been revealed to him.

The renewed memory of these common roots linking the three religions, which the Holy Father wishes to evoke in his journey, is an invitation to overcome the conflicts between Jews, Christians and Muslims that have taken place over the centuries.

Here, we cannot fail to recall that during his nine year stay in Turkey, the Apostolic Delegate Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII, came to recognize the urgent need for interreligious dialogue, which found expression in the Declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council, which he called as Pope.

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI referred to that Declaration as the Magna Charta of the Catholic Church in her relations with the Islamic world (cf. Address to the Diplomatic Corps, 25 September 2006).

The Holy Father’s journey to Turkey – in continuity with the thought of Pope John Paul II – is meant to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s conviction of the pressing need for interreligious dialogue.

Turkey, an officially secular state, which acts as a bridge between Europe and Asia and is home to various religious traditions, is, as it were, a balcony looking out on the Middle East, from which the values of interreligious dialogue, tolerance, reciprocity and the secular character of the State can be reaffirmed.

The liturgical book for the journey

The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, as is customary for papal journeys, has also prepared a liturgical book for the Pope’s Apostolic Journey to Turkey.

The volume, intended especially for the Holy Father himself and the concelebrants, contains the texts and the rubrics of the celebrations planned for the journey.

1. Celebrations with the Catholic community

The Holy Father presides at three celebrations of the Eucharist:

- Wednesday, 29 November, at the Shrine of Meryem Ana Evi in Ephesus;

- Thursday, 30 November, at the Chapel of the Papal Representation in Istanbul;

- Friday, 1 December, at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul.

The celebration at the Shrine of Meryem Ana Evi

The Eucharist is celebrated in an open place near the Shrine of Meryem Ana Evi, and is marked by clear mariological and ecclesiological themes.

The Mass is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The euchological texts and the biblical readings stress the mystery of Mary’s maternity with reference to her presence, with the Apostle John, beneath the Lord’s Cross. Jesus’ words from the Cross: “Behold your son … Behold your Mother” (Jn 19:26-27), have been seen by the Church as a special testament, by which Christ the Lord “entrusted to the Virgin Mary all his disciples to be her children”, while at the same time entrusting his Mother to the disciples.

In addition to Latin, the celebration uses Turkish, Italian, French, English and German.

The celebration in the Chapel of the Papal Representation

The texts of the celebration are from the Feast of the Apostle Andrew. The Mass is celebrated in Latin, while the readings are proclaimed in the vernacular.

The staff of the Papal Representation will take part in the celebration.

The celebration in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

The texts for the celebration in the Cathedral of Istanbul are drawn from the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. The celebration has an explicit pneumatological dimension, linked not only to the fact that the Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, but also to the particular nature of the assembly taking part, which is made up of various groups of different languages and rites, united in the same faith, by the same love and by one Spirit.

The celebration, both in its use of these languages and certain ritual sequences, is meant to express the diversity of the Catholic community.

The languages used are: Latin, Turkish, French, German, Syriac, Arabic and Spanish.

A number of ritual sequences emphasize the presence of the various Eastern rites: Armenian, Chaldean, Syrian. The Armenians will chant the entrance song and the Sanctus; the Chaldeans will chant the responsorial Psalm and the offertory song (in Aramaic); and the Syrians will chant the Gospel in accordance with their own ritual usage.

2. The ecumenical celebrations

There are three ecumenical moments of prayer:

- Wednesday, 29 November: Prayer service in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in the Phanar:

- Thursday, 30 November: the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in the Phanar;

- Friday, 1 December: the Liturgy of the Word in the Armenian Cathedral of Saint Mary.

[The Presentation continues with the texts of the ecumenical liturgies, which may be found on

www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/travels/2006/index_turke...

I will post the appropriate texts on this thread on the day they take place.]

The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff is most grateful to all those who assisted in the publication of the present volume.

Thanks is first due to the Bishops of the Turkish Episcopal Conference: meeting in Istanbul on 18 September 2006, the members of the Conference provided general guidelines regarding the texts, languages and ritual expressions to be used.

A particular expression of gratitude is also due to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for the fraternal cooperation shown in the preparation of the texts in English and in Greek for the Prayer Service of 29 November and the Divine Liturgy of 30 November.

Appreciation is also expressed to the authorities of the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral.

Finally, a word of thanks to the members of the Liturgical Commissions established for the occasion by the Bishops of Izmir and Istanbul.

The present volume will stand as testimony to the Pope’s love for the Turkish people, for the Sister Church of Constantinople, and in particular for the Catholic community in Turkey.

The celebration of the Eucharist and the preaching of the word of God by the Bishop of Rome to the communities of Ephesus and Istanbul are an encouragement and a gift which the Successor of Peter makes to the Church in Turkey, so that it will remain united in faith and love, in communion with its own Pastors and with the Roman Pontiff, and remain open to ecumenical dialogue, to interreligious dialogue and to preserving and promoting for all men, peace, liberty, social justice and moral values” (Nostra Aetate, 3).

† Piero Marini

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/11/2006 4.41]

Some stories from the Italian press today. First, from Avvenire -



Let us accompany the Pope
with our prayers
By Lorenzo Rosoli


Let us not leave him by himself. Let us support his 'pilgrimage' in Turkey. With the 'fragile' force of our prayers, personal and communal.

That is the message pounded out on tom-toms across the Catholic world on the eve of the Pope's voyage to Turkey.

This message and the prayers will only intensify during the days in Turkey - in Ankara, Ephesus, Istanbul - from Tuesday to Friday next week.

An intense program that, as of yesterday, may be further enriched by a last-minute addition: a possible visit to the Blue Mosque - as a tribute to Islam - after the Pope visits St. Sophia museum.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office, confirmed yesterday that the mosque visit is being seriously considered.

Also yesterday, a preview of an interview given to Italian state televisions TG-2 by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Sceretary of State, in which he calls on 'the great people of Turkey...an earnest of trust and goodwill for thr Holy Father."

"Such an earnest would be well-placed and will be splendidly matched," he said.

Bertone said he was not concerned about the Pope's physical safety - "We get daily reports which so far have led us to rule out any fears".

About the protests preceding the trip, he said: "They are part of the dialectic of free expression in a great nation like Turkey."

He added: "We have confidence in the government of Turkey and also in the wisdom of the Turkish people. They will not be on the streets as people have been in other papal trips, but they will be at home, perhaps watching TV, and they can hear the messages and reconsider the significance of this historic visit."

It is a historic visit and a most sensitive one. For its political value: The Bishop of Rome will cross the threshold of a land, a nation and a people who have been knocking at the doors of Europe for some time, a land suspended between East and West, between state secularism and religious sentiment, between democracy and a drift towards illiberalism.

The trip is a complex undertaking pregnant with threats as well as promise. The political 'stakes' do not contradict but rather enhance the fuller meaning of this apostolic voyage.

This is a trip that is at once pastoral, ecumenical and inter-religious. Benedict XVI will be meeting Turkish Catholics of various rites, as well as Christians from other churches, representatives of Islam, Judaism, as well as secular state institutions.

The program calls for many moments of prayer and religious celebration. The Pope in Turkey will be, above all else, a praying pilgrim. Therefore, the most effective solidarity that the faithful can offer him should be prayerful.

A few days ago, Archbishop Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, reminded the Christian community to multiply their acts of Eucharistic Adoration.

So it will be, for instance, at the altar of the Most Blessed Sacrament in St. Peter's Basilica.

Or at the archdiocese of Modena, with the adorations, vigils and Masses which will be held in its churches from Tuesday through Friday.

Or on the streets of Palermo, on Thursday, with a 'prayer march' organized by the diocese and religious organizations.



From La Repubblica:

Erdogan: "I'm ready to see the Pope"
Maybe an airport meeting.
Cardinal Kasper targeted by terrorists.


ANKARA - Perhaps they will get to shake hands, after all - Papa Ratzinger and Tayyip Erdogan - if the Vatican accepts a possible airport meeting suggested yesterday as a possibility by Erdogan himself.

The Prime Minister of Turkey, in a local TV interview, said: "If the schedules work out, it is possible we could meet at the airport when he arrives."

In an apparent attempt to stop once and for all the speculation that he and his leading cabinet members deliberately avoided having to meet the Pope during his visit, Erdogan added: "We do not belong to a religion that tells us to respond similarly to a negative approach from the follower of another religion. It is not necessary to reciprocate evil with evil."

[This was not quoted in other reports about Erdogan's TV statements, and this puts a whole new light to it. Like Bardakoglu, his hostility - as originally expressed after Regensburg - continues to rankle. Even if he was making this statement with the April 2007 elections in mind and to'cover' him - CYA - insofar as the Islamists whose votes he is trying to woo, it is still very uncharitable, and blatantly sanctimonious.]

The diplomats are now trying to work out the possibility of this airport meeting, even as a visit to the Blue Mosque has been proposed to the Pope by Turkey's Grand Mufti, Ali Bardakoglu.

But with three days left to go before the visit, apprehensions over the trip have not gone away. Turkish intelligence made it known they have learned about a plot to target Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, for assassination rather than the Pope.

Kasper, who is German like Benedict, has been just as criticized for his stated views about the admission of Turkey to the European Union.

The object, apparently, is to shift the target from Benedict to Kasper, who is one of his most important co-workers, with the hope of accomplishing the same effect. [The same effect? Who are they kidding?]

Five cardinals will be travelling with the Pope. Besides Kasper- Cardinal Tarciso Bertone, Secretary of State; Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of both the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Peace, and for Inter-Religious Dialog; Cardinal Moussa Daoud, Prefectr of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches; and Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who often carried out diplomatic missions for John Paul II and is considered an expert in ecumenical and international relations.

A few weeks ago, police in Istanbul unmasked and arrested a group of terrorists who reportedly intended to attack the Pope and his entourage during the visit. They did not say whether the group was composed only of Turkish elements or whether it included foreigners [for instance, Al-Qaeda?]

Nevertheless, a bulletproof vest for the Pope to wear under his robes is supposedly on hand, and now the cardinals, too, may be asked to wear one.

When Benedict XVI enters Turkish air space on Tuesday morning, his flight will be escorted by F-16 fighter jets from the Turkish Defense Ministry.

But it is reported that the Pope has graciously refused to use an armored limousine offered for his use by the Turkish government, preferring to use the vehicles that will be provided for him by his original host, Patriarch Bartholomew I.

The moment he lands, he will be under the 24-hour vigilance of 25 Turkish special agents armed with the most up-to-date weapons and security measures. Their mission is never to keep him out of sight during the time he is in Turkey.

Turkish policemen, numbering up to 16,000 in the three places he is visiting, have also been mobilized to keep order.

The Pope's own security includes his personal bodyguards, the Swiss Guard, the Vatican police, and a large group of Italian agents from the state security services who are already in Turkey.

In addition, agents of Israel's famed Mossad, who have been cooperating closely with the Turkish secret service MIT, will also be involved in the Pope's protection.


La Repubblica's sidebar on Cardinal Kasper:

Kasper: Open-minded theologian
but severe about Islam


ANKARA - Walter Kasper, 73, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, is not a man who hides behind euphemisms. He showed that once again eaerlier this week when he told journalists, describing teh forthcoming Papal trip to Turkey, that "Of course, this is a minefield."

Held in high esteem by Benedict XVI [even if they have clashed openly but in civil debate in the past], Kasper is considered in the Vatican almost a 'progressive' with respect to the 'conservative' positions advocated by Cardinal Ratzinger. He is probably also the only theologian in the Curia who can meet Benedict on theological grounds.

But on Turkey, their views coincide.

"The purpose of this visit," Kasper underlined, "is not dialog with Islam, but further rapprochement with the Orthodox Church."

He adds: "The Pope should point out that Turkey itself has Christian roots."

His views about Turkey are well-known. He believes Turkey should not be admitted into the European Union "for as long as it denies religious freedom" and that it requires "a purification of memory." His words were recevied in Turkey as a whiplash.

"There is no single Islam," he also said in a very controversial statement. "The Koran is ambiguous and Islam is not a monolith. Of course, Islam deserves respect. But up to now, it has shown tolerance of other religions only in places where it is a minority. Where it is in the majority, it does not recognize freedom of religion. Islam is a different culture." [Even blunter than gentle but equally direct-speaking Joseph Ratzinger! I would like to see the full article or interview from which the citation was taken, wouldn't you?]

And here's how AP looks at the security angle today. I'm glad I read the Repubblica story first for some reasuring elements! :


Turkey prepares clampdown
ahead of pope
By SELCAN HACAOGLU
Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 25



ISTANBUL, Turkey - If Turkish security authorities needed a reminder of the challenge posed by Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey this week, Ibrahim Ak delivered it when he fired a pistol outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul and shouted that he wanted to strangle the pope with his bare hands.

"God willing, this will be a spark, a starter for Muslims ... God willing, he will not come. If he comes, he will see what will happen to him," the 26-year-old Turk told the TV cameras as he was led away in handcuffs.

The Nov. 2 incident ended without injuries, and nothing like it has happened since, but authorities are braced for trouble and have mobilized an army of snipers, bomb disposal experts and riot police, as well as navy commandos to patrol the Bosporus Straits flowing through Istanbul.

Benedict's four-day visit to this overwhelmingly Muslim nation begins Tuesday under the shadow of his September speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

Like the rest of the Islamic world, many in this 99 percent Muslim nation are angry and want a fuller apology than Benedict's statement of regret for having caused offense.

Predicting big street protests, authorities plan to close several areas of Istanbul to traffic and are preparing lists of residents living in those neighborhoods.

Felicity, a pro-Islamic opposition party, is calling for a massive protest in Istanbul Sunday, before the pope arrives.

"If this trip would have occurred under normal conditions, then these lands, the center of tolerance and love, would show the necessary hospitality to him," it said in a statement. "But we don't want to see him on our soil because of the remarks he made about Islam's Prophet Muhammad on Sept. 12 and for not apologizing afterward."

Benedict will visit Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, the capital. Istanbul, when it was named Constantinople, was the capital of Byzantine-era Christianity, but Christians are a tiny minority in modern Turkey, feel deprived of their rights and are expected to urge the pope to come to their defense.

There's also a shocking real-life event that ties Turkey to the Vatican — the shooting of Pope John Paul II in Rome by a Turk, Mehmet Ali Agca, for reasons that remain murky but have not been linked to Islamic issues.

That was 25 years ago, and Turkey today is striving to show the world it is a modern nation ready to join the European Union.

Turkish security forces have had ample experience in protecting world leaders, including Presidents Bush and Clinton. The military is powerful, publicly venerated and highly trained.

Still, senior anti-terrorism police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said they worry that some anti-pope protests could turn violent.

Several radical Islamic groups are active, some with links to al-Qaida. A wave of suicide bombings against synagogues and British interests in Istanbul three years ago killed 58 people, and about 70 alleged al-Qaida operatives are on trial for the attacks.

Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, has compared Benedict to Pope Urban II, who in 1095 ordered the First Crusade to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims.

On Feb. 5 a Turkish teenager shot dead a Catholic priest, Rev. Andrea Santoro, as he knelt in prayer inside his church in the Turkish port city of Trabzon. Two other Catholic clerics in Turkey were later assaulted.

Those attacks were believed related to widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Muhammad.

A recent Turkish thriller, "Plot Against the Pope" by Yucel Kaya carries the subtitle "Who will kill the pope in Istanbul?" Its conspiracy theory ties the assassination into a plot by conservative Roman Catholics, Freemasons and U.S. intelligence services to attack Iran, Turkey's eastern neighbor.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/11/2006 23.59]

Here is a translation of an editorial today in Avvenire.


May God keep watch over him!
By Davide Rondoni

We wait with bated breath. As for some truly important news we expect. We feel that what is about to happen concerns us all. The Pope is going to Turkey.

The Middle East is in flames, more than ever. Beirut, Baghdad, Gaza... Tensions with Tehran... And in Africa, violent bands of Muslims in Nigeria, Somalia, the Sudan...

Powerful interests are moving the chess pieces on the board of history, as well as the potential targets of weaponry. The entrance of Turkey to the European Union is stirring public opinion in old Europe: fear of immigration, market changes, Islamization, possible setbacks for democracy and basic freedoms.

That is the context for the Papal trip. He will arrive in Turkey on November 28 as a witness for faith and ecumenism. He will call upon all to aim for what is good, rather than for particular interests or ideological points. And if one must talk together, dialog, then to aim for the truth, and not a dialog of hypocrisy.

And so, we hold our breath. But what can be done so that the trip may be only to the good? One feels dismay, almost. The situation is so complex, not easy to understand. And the media don't always help us understand. We hold our breath. We feel dazed, almost. We do not know what we can do.

We are watching the tide of history as from a balustrade. And see what the waves bring in every day and feel powerless. Some will simply retreat from looking at this sea of trouble and confusion: 'Let the world carry on. I have nothing to do with all this. Let me attend to my daily life.'

But one action is possible. A simple one. Which anyone and everyone who wants to can do. Our ancestors used to do it habitually. We pray.

A prayer for the Pope. Our elders and those before them used to do that regularly. Without fuss. As something one evidently must do. A simple but enormous duty.

Let others occupy themselves with political action. Let them decide who by virtue of office or destiny must make the decisions. Our elders knew what part they had to play. One can always pray.

A prayer for the Pope. Anyone can do it. By yourself. Anywhere. On the street. Or together. In groups. The family. The parish.

It takes so little - and it takes a lot. Because one must have a wider consciousness of the world. And of God.

And so, let us also pray for Turkey. If we know that God cannot be taken out of history, let us call on Him. All of us. Those who understand politics and see how delicate the situation is. Those who understand nothing about it, but also sense the situation is delicate.

Let us pray for the Pope. That his trip may go the way he intends it to and as he prays it will. For all his intentions. For peace. For ecumenism. For inter-religious dialog. And for the Church.

It takes so little - and it takes a lot. We must feel we are going with the Pope. On this trip to Turkey, which is also in every corner of our cities and our hearts.

Let us pray that God may not take His eyes off him.

Let us pray, knowing that even Muslims pray, and that like us, they pray to the one God.

What does it mean to pray? Even children can pray. Anyone. Rich or poor. Educated or not. Doctors or clowns. The sick and the healthy.

Prayer is powerful. It has shown itself powerful so many times in history. It has made saints. It has touched the hardest of hearts.

It has mysterious power. That Power which many petty powers who think themselves great would cast out of history.

Let us pray. Each of us can do it. All of us should.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/11/2006 2.40]

The emphasis on Islam in the Pope's forthcoming trip makes it too easy to overlook other historical and cultural aspects of the context in which we must consider this trip.

A lengthy article in Il Foglio today, shared with us by Lella as usual, calls our attention to the Byzantine heritage that both Turkey and the Christian West share - and use in some way - but which is rarely examined.

These are the views of a Bysantine specialist, so like most specialists, she tends to have tunnel vision. That aside, however, she brings up many points worth considering. Here is a translation:


Benedict makes us rediscover
all that was Roman in Byzantium


In "Flight from Byzantium", the Russian poet Josif Brodskji wrote that there are places in which great historic events are as inevitable as automobile accidents.

One of these places is Istanbul, once Constantinople, once Byzantium - actual and synmbolic point of contact and conflict between East and West. Where Pope Benedict XVI is awaited for a visit that is complicated by strong fears as well as surrounded by great expectations.

Silvia Ronchey, a scholar of Byzantine civilization, recalls Brodskji's metaphor in connection with ner new book, "Piero's Enigma" in which, by deciphering Piero della Francesca's painting The Flagellation of Jesus, she tells us how Byzantium gave Europe the gift of the Renaissance.

Ronchey says: "That isthmus on the Bosphorus, between Europe and Aisia, has always been fundamental in history, from Troy to our day."

It was there that Greek civilization was born, she says, [that's really stretching it for the sake of an analogy, and unnecessarily offending Greece; it would have been more precise, though far less elegant, to say the civilization of ancient Greece had also reached the Bosphorus, as well as Asia Minor and Anatolia, ancient lands that make up most of present-day Turkey], and it was there where, from Constantine onwards, a model of coexistence among various races developed so clearly, despite many turbulences, in a way that seems impossible to achieve in our day."

In her view, it is not entirely correct to speak about 'the fall of the Roman empire', because that empire [its heritage] "survives precisely wherever coexistence is successfully achieved through supra-nationality and ethnic diversity, the assimilation of the conquered and resolution of conflicts."

So Ronchey believes that "we should learn all over to look at Constantinople" through the 'Roman' optic.

"What we seem to have lost, after the fall of Constantinople and with the 'disappearance' of Byzantium - one simply has to note how we have all come to use the word 'byzantine' as a negative word - is its Roman element." [Byzantium was, after all, formally called the Eastern Roman Empire!]

But that should be our compass to orient us everytime we speak of Europe, she says. "I think of the formidable alliance, that even Papa Ratzinger evoked in his Regensburg lecture, between Greek philosophy and Roman juridical and politico-administrative tradition. That alliance is what we call our civilization. {Well, she wilfully leaves out the Judeo-Christian religion from this mix!]

And what almost everyone seems to forget, she says, is that "Roman law lives on, even in Muslim Turkey."

We have a common history with Turkey that we cannot deny, she says, that should be a strong point instead. And now, that place has become crucial again, because it could be point where the so-called 'clash of civilizations' could result either in rupture or in a bridge between the Islamic East and the Christian West.

The Roman empire [its tradition] has lived on for centuries in Turkey and continues to live on, she maintains - though the Wsteern Empire fell on 476, and the Eastern empire a millennium later in 1453, when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople.

That tradition, she says, then forked in two directions but continued almost unchanged through two subsequent empires which also fell - the Ottomans who finally lost power in the 19th century, and the Russian, first czarist then Soviet, that finally fell last century.

"Both," she says, "were multi-ethnic empires in which the surviving Roman-Byzantine culture was openly carried forward."

She gives an example. "We know that the sultans, especially at the peak of the Ottoman empire in the 16th and 17th centuries, did not only apply Roman law, but with great respect and precision, availed of the administrative and fiscal structrues of the Byzantine empire which had inherited this from Rome."

"It was the same thing with the Russian empire. Ivan the Terrible traced his power back to the Caesars.[Hence, the word czar .] Once these two branches died, then the problem of multi-racial coexistence emerged powerfully. All the regions of the world that are now most geopolitically troubled, where there are wars today, were places where ethnic conflicts were carefully watched and regulated - even in despotic ways - through this spirit of 'romanity'. Think of the Balkans, the Caucasus and Black Sea regions, Mesopotamia (Iraq).":

And so the Byzantine legacy must continue to interest us, now more than ever, now that its offshoots have died off. She adds as an aside, "Fortinately, Stalin came from this tradition and caused a great fkowering of studies in Byzantine history and culture."

Ronchey thinks "it is not a coincidence that this Pope, and before him John Paul II, who was co-responsible for the fall of the Soviet bloc, have looked at Constantinople, at Byzantium. It is there where you find all the knots to be uunravelled - political, strategic, social, ethnic. And cultural."

It is on the cultural level, she says, "where we can best peg the relationship between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Patriarch Bartholomew represents ecumenical orthodoxy, now the ghost of a Church that was once under imperial control, that has been replaced by so many autocephalous churches, all independent of each other. Byzantium and its culture were long emonized in the West and shrugged off because by it was a state in which the priesthood was, by definition, an extension of secular power. The natural consequence was that the figure of the Patriarch never had the independence of the Popes. This secular intrusion also resulted in the passivity and lack of initiative among Orthodox clergy."

Byzantium was basically the secular model, Ronchey says, for contemporary Turkey, where from the time of Ataturk, even Musliom preachers are chosen by a ministry of the state. But what kind of secularism is it when relgious expression and worship are controlled by the state?

"Let us not forget, it was always that way in Byzantium. In 1054, for example, when the schism took place that Benedict and Bartholomew are now trying to repair, it wasn't primarily a problem between the two Churches, but a test of power between Patriarch Michael Cerularius and the Emperor. The Patriarch, a great intellectual and politician, wanted to assert his independence, and the best way he could do that was to excommunicate the Bishop of Rome! The subordination of the clergy to imperial power was not always there, although it became more and more manifest with time."

Now, however, "the problem is that Bartholomew's ecumenism can seem to be nothing more than a pale ghost even symbolically. In his little 'stronghold' in the Phanar, he is besieged by true and actual persecution from the present Turkish government, a victim of that Islamic integralism which is a recent phenomenon in Turkey."

"For more reason," Ronchey thinks, "we should guard against falling into the nostalgic-nationalist trap of thinking about Byzantium as something that Islam 'took away' in the 15th century. That loss could be blamed on many errors by the Western powers, Venice above all, far more than the Papacy which at that time was in fact quite clear about the need to keep its connection and interface with the Muslim East. Quite simply, Venice did not send its fleet as requested, and Byzantium could not save itself.

"So ended that most precious instrument with which the Christian West spoke, made dialog, communicated, elaborated strategies, made art, music, painting, literature, extraordinary and fruitful forms of syncretism, as we ultimately saw in the dialog between Manuel II Paleologus and his Muslim interlocutor that Papa Ratzinger recounted in Regensburg."

If today, the cultural osmosis between East and West is minimal, the imperial function of mediating among races is needed more than ever. "More than ever, it is necessary to find unity. If to the fundamental East-West conflict, we also add ethnic, economic, strategic and religious divisions, it is essential to recover every lesson that can be useful from that forgotten Byzantium."

As for the Pope, he must also take into account "the internal problem of the Orthodox world, arising from the existence of the autocephalous churches and the progressive weakening of the ecumenical patriarchate."

"Obviously Benedict XVI wants to reinforce Bartholomew's position, which would have two fundamental effects. Tactically, if he succeeds, the Catholic Church would only have to speak with one person, and it would be far easier to resolve doctrinal differences. Strategically and in general - because I think that at this point in time, the Bosphorus is where our civilization can founder or survive - the Papal trip will be a success if Benedict succeeds in re-igniting the torch of Christianity in Turkey while at the same time, re-starting the mechanisms for dialog which have been stalled."

The Byzantine scholar remarks: "There is an aspect about Benedict XVI, in his person, in his character, as the embodiment of an ethos, that makes him an ideal interlocutor with Orthodoxy. He is an intellectual with aesthetic and conservative inclinations that he has demonstrated quite frequently."

Thus, his great interest, for instance, in the recovery of traditional liturgy, "is an element that immediately places him in harmony with the Orthodox world. In effect, Orthodoxy is its liturgy. We are moved and humbled when we experience the mysticism of Orthodox rites, with their weight of mystery and emotion, which appear to have vanished from post-Conciliar Catholic rites. Ratzinger is very sensitive to the urgency of bringing back these elements of worship to Catholicism."

On November 30, feast of St. Andrew, founder of the Eastern Church, Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I will join in prayer at the Patriarchal Church of St. George at the Phanar in Istanbul.

Sylvia Ronchey thinks back to that occasion in 1462 "when Pius II - the humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini - less than 10 years after the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium, led a procession across Rome such as had never been seen before, passing through crowds of faithful in prayer and deep emotion, to welcome the relics of Saint Andrew, Peter's older brother, relics carried to safety by Thomas Paleologue, last heir to Byzantium who sought refuge in Rome where he would die. The city, filled with tens of thousands of pilgrims who had come from all Europe for this event, thus witnessed the symbolic reunion between the brothers Peter and Andrew, and therefore of Western and Eastern Christianity. "

"In 2004, John Paul II, at a solemn ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, returned the relics of two Fathers of the Church - St, Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom - to the Patriach of Constantinople. It was a gesture that breathed new life into the ecumenical dialog. I expect something similar from Benedict XVI - an ancient and powerful gesture such as only someone like he would know to make. Something that will remind us that our culture is not only Roman or Greek but also Oriental. Byzantium was our cradle, too. It is synonymous with the ability to resist, perpetuate and integrate. Its lessons in this respect have yet to be rediscovered."

===============================================================

One expects the religion editor or the chief Vatican correspondent for any agency or newspaper to be authoritative and at the very least, not to be sloppy with facts.

I had occasion earlier to comment on some statements loosely made by Reuters religion editor Tom Heneghan. Now, it's the turn of Reuters's chief Vatican correspondent, Philip Pullela, a man often cited by Anglophone Vaticanistas as more or less their unofficial 'leader of the pack'.

Today, he reports about the possible visit by the Pope to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul about which we have reported enough - the only thing we want to know now is whether the visit will be added to his schedule. So I wasn't planning to use his story.

But! let me just quote his first three paragraphs:

---

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, who drew fire from Muslims over his comments on Islam, is likely to make a hastily added stop at Istanbul's Blue Mosque on his trip to Turkey next week, the Vatican said on Saturday.

It would be his first visit to a mosque....

The visit to the mosque was seen as an attempt at reconciliation by Pope Benedict following controversial comments he made about Islam in a speech in his native Germany in September....

---

In this Forum, we first got the story yesterday from a korazym reporter in Ankara who reported that the Turkish newspapers said the Blue Mosque visit was proposed by Ali Bardakoglu, president for religious affairs, as a 'gesture of openness' by the Pope "so as not to give the impression he was only interested in visiting St. Sofia."

Tell me I'm quibbling. But it's unpardonable for a major news agency not to go back to the original source of the story - not Fr. Lombardi - and get the facts right. All Pulella had to do was call his bureau in Ankara or Istanbul and ask, "Hey, what's this about the Blue Mosque?" and they would have told him what korazym reported. But what kind of a local bureau does Reuters have anyway if their correspondents on site do not know enough to report what is clearly a newsworthy item that is reported in the Turkish papers?

Whether it was laziness on Pulella's part, or simply that he didn't think of it, the way he wrote the story makes it appear that this was a last-minute scramble by the Pope to make 'an attempt at reconciliation' - which is nothing of the sort, as the proposal came from the Turks.

It looks like just another deliberate attempt to paint the Pope negatively if there's an opening - only this time, it's a false opening.

Surely, any thinking observer would have asked at the start, when the program for the Pope's visit was first announced: "Why isn't he visiting a mosque in a nation that is 99% Muslim?"

I answered myself, "Because this visit isn't properly about Islam, except incidentally. It's not a visit to Turkey as Turkey, the Muslim nation, but as Turkey, which just happens to be the geographic location for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Mary's house at Ephesus, and where a tiny community of Christians needs moral support."

I expect that most reporters covering the Pope probably thought the same way, or they could have had a more sophisticated explanation. But whatever it is, the fact remains that not one ever raised the question in an article nor with the Vatican Press Office, because if they had, then we would have heard of it.

So for Pulella now to seem to make an issue of it by his tendentious reporting and choice of words is ....the usual journalistic irresponsibility we've come to expect of MSM!

Mattia Bianchi of korazym.org reports from Istanbul -

Blue Mosque visit almost certain
Holy See supports Turkey in the EU
Turkish TV will cover Papal events

"I believe the visit of the Pope to the Blue Mosque will take place," Mons. George Marovitch, spokesman for the Turkish bishops conference, told the news agency ADNkronos today.

"It would be a sign of friendship and respect towards Muslims," he added.

He also recalled that John Paul II visited the Blue Mosque in 1979. [Something is definitely wrong here! I thought the first time John Paul entered a mosque was in Damascus in 2001!]

However, it appears that the most significant courtesy by the Pope is attached to his visit to the Diyanet, seat of Turkey's Office of Religious Affairs, to meet with its president, Ali Bardakoglu, one of his most bitter critics in Islam. This will take place in Ankara, the Turkish capital, on the afternoon of November 28, the Pope's first day in Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Vatican 'foreign secretary', Mons. Dominique Mamberti, said in an interview with Avvenire that the protests held so far against the Pope's visit should not be "amplified beyond what they are."

In the same intervidw, Mamberti said that the Holy See does not oppose Turkey's entry into the European Union provided Ankara "respects all the requirements."

Asked the same question earlier, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone sasid in an interview for Itaian state TV's TG-2 that "of itself, the Holy See has no say in the matter, but historically, the relationship between Turkey and Europe is very ancient. Turkey has always figured in European history. It is hoped that Turkey will be abkle to genuinely fulfill all the conditions required by the European Union for its admission and integration ibnto the European community."

Meanwhile, the state Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) has been designated as the broadcast agency which will cover and transmit live the important activities of the pope in Turkey, including the divine liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George.

Turkish newspapers reported this following an announcement by the Greek television channel ERT that it would be transmitting the liturgy from the Patriarchate, on the basis of an agreement with the Patriarchate and the Vatican.

Apparently, the dispute was ironed out between the foreign ministries of Turkey and Greece. TRT said all other broadcasters may subscribe to their feeds.

Nationalists to demonstrate
against the Pope at Ayasofya

Turkey's BBP or Party of Grand Union, an ultra-nationalist party which is not even represented in the Turkish Parliament, has announced it will demonstrate against the pope when he visits Ayasofya on Thursday.

The BPP is both ultra-nationalist and Islamist. It has called on its supporters to post protest posters against tehe Pope in their cars and in their places of work.

They plan to do stage their Thursday demonstration from Beyazit Square which is near both Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque, which the Pope may also visit.


Left, Turkish police deploy from area near Ayasofya. 'Massive' protest demo
to take place in Istanbul Sunday, 11/26. Right, Anti-Pope groups have mounted streamers
and posters of all sizes protesting that 'the ignorant and insidious Pope should not come
to Turkey.'.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/11/2006 2.03]

Barbara Marini of korazym.org has the breakdown. In translation -

The Holy See has finalized the list of passengers who will accompany Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey on the papal flight on November 28. A papal suite of 30, plus 70 journalists, make 100. (101, with the Pope).

The thiry persons in the Pope's suite include 5 cardinals, 2 bishops, 5 priests and 18 lay staff members.

The cardinals are: Cardinal Tarciso Bertone, making his first trip as Secretary of State; Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for christian Unity; Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches; Cardinal Paul Poupard, President of the Pontifical Councils for Culture and for Inter-Religious Dialog; and Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, an experienced diplomat who performed many delicate missions for John Paul II and is also considered an expert in ecumenical relations.

The bishops are Mons. Leonardo Sandri, #3 man at the State Secretariat, with his assistant, Mons. Julio Murat, son of a Levantine family from Smyrna, Turkey, who has been with State since 1986;and Mons. Piero Marino, master of liturgical ceremonies for the Holy Father, with his assistant, the Polish Mons. Konrad Krajewski.

Then, the three men who are the Pope's closest staff: Mons. Georg Gaenswein, private secretary; his assistant, Mons. Mieczyslaw Mokrycki; and the Pope's valet, Paolo Gabriele.

There will be two doctors: Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, the Pope's personal physician; and Dr. Patrizio Polisca, from the Vatican's department of health and hygiene.

The Pope's communications team will include Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office, Vatican Radio, and Vtaican TV; Prof. Mario Agnes, editor of L'Osservatore Romano; Arturo Mari, photographer; two technicians from Vatican Radio; and two cameramen from CTV.

Security personnel include Domenico Giani, inspector-general of the Vatican Gendarmerie (the Pope's chief bodygard, in effect - his figure is quite familiar by now) with four other gendarmes; and two officers of the Swiss Guard.

Finally, Dr. Alberto Gasbarri, coordinator of papal trips, with his assistant Paolo Corvini, from the protocol office of the State Secretariat.

The moment the Pope arrives in Ankara; the following will become part of his entourage: the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello; the president of tehe Turkish bishops conference and Archbishop of Izmir, Capuchin Fr. Ruggero Franceschini; and the secretary to the Aposstolic Nuncio, Mons. Christoph-Zakia El-Kassis.

The media group of 70 includes Vik van Brantegem, assistant to Fr. Lombardi, with 5 other Vatican media personnel (an editor and a photographer for Osservatore Romano, an editor for Vatican Radio, and two back-up cameramen for CTV).

There are three photographers : one for the AFP-ANSA-AP-Reuters pool, one for the Gamma-Getty-SIPA pool, and Alessia Giuliani for Famiglia Cristiana.

There are 35 radio-TV journalists (3 cameramen, 2 producers, 1 sound technician, 14 TV correspondents and 5 radio correspondents) representing AP and Reuters; Greek TV channel ERT, German TV ZDF, Vatican Service News, 6 representing Italian TV (two from RAI, one from Mediaset TG5, one each from Telepace, Sat2000 and Sky TG4), Mexican TV, one each from the American networks ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox; Spains RNE and Radiocope, RAI's Radiogiornale, Radio France, andPortuguese Radio Renascenca.

More than half the media group are newspaper editors and Vatican correspondents, including one for the Turkish newspaper Sabah, 23 from Italy, 14 from the USA, 7 from France, 6 from Germany, 6 from Spainn, 2 from Great Britain, 2 from Mexico, and 1 from Russia.

The Italian journalists include Luigi Accatoli of Corriere della Sera, Alessandra Borgehese for the Hachette-Rusconi group, Franca Giansoldati of ANSA, Maria Lombardi of Il Messaggero, Roberto Monteforte of L'Unita, Salvatore Mazza of Avvenire, Franco Pisano of Asianews, Marco Politi of la Repubblica, Serena Sartini of APCOM, Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale, and Marco Tosatti of La Stampa.

The plane crew and staff includes 3 pilots, flight attendants, technical operators and an assistant in charge of facilitating the trips from Ankara to Izmir and Izmir to Istanbul.

The Pope will fly Alitalia (an Airbus 321) to Ankara, and Turkish Airlines (a B737-800) from Ankara to Izmir, Izmir to Istanbul and Istanbul back to Rome.

Total airfare for the paying passengers: 2,260 Euros each.

Sandro Magister, in his 11/24/05 blog, comments on the description of the liturgical service that Benedict XVI will be taking part in on November 30, the feast of St. Andrew, at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George at the Phanar, Istanbul.

What I am not clear about - which Mons. Marini's otherwsie comprehensive presentation does not say - is what part exactly the Pope will play in this Divine Liturgy (equivalent to the Mass, in this case).

Towards the people"
No, towards the East

The Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations has released the book of liturgies for the Pope's coming visit to Turkey.

One of these liturgies is the Mass of the Byzantine rite - specifically, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom - which the Pope will attend on November 30 in the Patriarch Church of St. George at the Phanar in Istanbul.

In his Presentation of the book, Archbishop Piero Marino, the Pope's chief cerimoniere, writes, among other things:

"The Byzantine Divine Liturgy, like that of all the Eastern Churches, is celebrated facing East. The priest and all the faithful look to the East, whence Christ will come again in glory.

"The priest intercedes before the Lord for his people; he walks at the head of the people towards the encounter with the Lord.

"At different moments the priest turns to the people: for the proclamation of the Gospel, for the dialogue preceding the anaphora, for the communion with the holy gifts, and for all the blessings. These symbolize moments in which the Lord himself comes forth to meet his people."

Marini could not have said it better. He seems to have taken a page from the book of Fr. Michael Uwe Lang, "Addressing the Lord" on the question of where the priest should be facing during various parts of the Mass.

When it was published, that book caused a scandal among the advocates of Mass 'assemblies" and of altars facing the people. But it had a foreword by Joseph Ratzinger, who was no lightweight to have on your side!

Now it seems that even Marini has fallen into place.
=============================================================

[Well, not quite! Considering that Marini couldn't very well change the Orthodox liturgy to suit his liking, could he? Now, if the Masses celebrated by the Pope in Turkey were to be said ad orientem, that would be news. Somehow, I don't think the time is yet.]

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/11/2006 2.35]

Thank you so much for the translation of Davide Rondoni's editorial in Avvenire Teresa. ("May God watch over him!") I'm sending it to friends and family. I only wish it could be reproduced in every church bulletin in the world this Sunday..

Here's a preparatory story from the LA Times, with a fresher perspective than the news-service stories which tend to be too boilerplate, copying each other and repeating themselves...

To Lily: I thought the same thing when I first read that editorial. I pray that all priests saying Mass tomorrow will remember to ask their congregations to offer at least one prayer for the Pope and this trip he is about to make.
BENEDICTUS QUI VENIT IN NOMINE DOMINI.

================================================================

A tense time for a papal visit
Turkey, which doesn't recognize the Roman Catholic Church,
is still rankled by Benedict's comments on Islam.
By Tracy Wilkinson
Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
November 25, 2006


ISTANBUL, TURKEY — To reach Turkey's most important Roman Catholic church, a visitor must scour a traffic-choked street to find the metal doors, walk down a flight of stairs, cross a courtyard and finally step into the consecrated basilica.


Painting the exterior wall of St. Esprit Cathedral in Istanbul; a statue to John XXIII,
who was Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey from 1935-1945 can be seen in the courtyard.

Inside the Holy Spirit Cathedral here, the lights remain low until a minute before evening Mass, and then reveal frescoed ceilings with gold-trimmed arches, 22 crystal chandeliers and blond-marble columns. On this night, 14 worshipers dot the pews.

In the Turkish capital, Ankara, the only Catholic church is even more discreet: It is marked simply by a French flag.

When Pope Benedict XVI travels to Turkey next week, he will be making his first trip to a predominantly Muslim country at a moment of diplomatic fragility.

He also will be traversing some of the most ancient and revered milestones of Christianity, in a land where Christianity is disappearing and where non-Muslim minorities complain of systemic discrimination, harassment and violence against them.

It is a complex agenda. The pope's main purpose is to meet with the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Eastern Orthodox Christians in a show of ecumenical solidarity. But he must also use the visit to attempt to repair the damage from comments he has made that cast Islam in a negative light.

Among Turkey's nearly 70 million Muslims, reaction to Benedict's visit ranges from disinterest to intense anger. A man opened fire early this month on the Italian Consulate in Istanbul, telling police later that he wanted to "strangle" the pope. A nationalist gang called the Gray Wolves is staging regular demonstrations protesting the pontiff's arrival.

Among the estimated 100,000 Christians who live in Turkey, there is hope that Benedict's presence will cast light on their difficulties.

The Roman Catholic Church is not legally recognized in Turkey. It functions largely attached to foreign embassies; its priests do not wear their collars in public.

Most Christians in Turkey are of the Armenian, Greek and other Orthodox denominations, and although most of these are recognized in the Turkish Constitution as minority communities, they face severe restrictions on property ownership and cannot build places of worship or run seminaries to train their clerics.

Such hardships make it almost impossible for Christians to sustain and expand their communities, advocates say. The Greek Orthodox, for example, have dwindled to no more than 3,000, just 2% of the community's size in the 1960s.



Next to Istanbul's Blue Mosque,anti-Pope activists hand out leaflets against
the 'ignorant and sneaky Pope'.

Fueled by a vitriolic, and growing, potion of nationalism and Islamic radicalism, spasms of violence have led to the killing of one priest this year, the beatings of two others and the burning of a Christian prayer center. Christian tombstones are often vandalized and property frequently confiscated by authorities.

Turkey has come under repeated criticism from Western human rights organizations and the Vatican for its failure to promote religious freedom. Turkey is an Islamic but secular country; in reality, this means that all religious activity, including mosques and imams, is controlled by the government.

"Obviously, more needs to be done to promote religious freedom for all denominations," Ali Bardakoglu, president of Turkey's powerful Religious Affairs Directorate, said in an interview. But he defended the government's treatment of minorities, contending that Christians and other non-Muslims do not face serious problems.

Bardakoglu was one of the most emphatic critics of Benedict after the pope delivered a speech in Regensburg, Germany, in September that denounced Islamic violence and quoted a medieval Byzantine emperor who disdained Islam and its prophet, Muhammad.

Adding insult to injury, as far as many Turks were concerned, the emperor was defending Constantinople, cradle of Orthodox Christianity, against the Muslim conquest that gave the city its name today: Istanbul.

Bardakoglu said the pope was welcome in Turkey despite the speech, which touched off outrage throughout the Muslim world. And although he said he accepted Benedict's subsequent explanations, Bardakoglu did not appear completely appeased.

"It is unfortunate that there are circles within Western society that attempt to blacken the name of our religion and are infected with Islamophobia," he said. "The role of the Vatican and the pope should be to help fight stereotypes. Rather than open debate, they should be seeking to heal wounds."

In a remarkable gesture, the pope will meet with Bardakoglu, the country's top religious figure, at his ministry, a modern, imposing building on Ankara's outskirts, on the first day of his Turkey visit. Bardakoglu's directorate commands a huge budget and oversees all of Turkey's imams.

Originally, the Vatican expected Bardakoglu to call on the pope at the Vatican Embassy, as protocol would have dictated. But the Turks refused. After a series of negotiations, the pope agreed to go to Bardakoglu. "It is a gesture of goodwill," a senior Vatican official said.

The pope's controversial presence in Turkey represents a balancing act for the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which regards itself a vital bridge between the West and East, a way for Westerners to deal with a modern and democratic Islam. But it also cannot appear too cozy with a pontiff who, in the view of many, is not fond of Muslims or Turks.

Erdogan is not scheduled to receive Benedict, citing a previous commitment to attend a NATO summit in Latvia on Tuesday and Wednesday. And there is no plan for the prime minister to see him off when the pope departs Dec. 1. [This may yet change.]

Both the Vatican and Turkish officials said this was not a snub, but Erdogan told visiting reporters in Istanbul last month, "You can't expect me to arrange my timetable according to the pope."

The frictions are rooted in history. The Ottoman Empire, which ruled the region for more than six centuries, was relatively tolerant of Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims. But before and during World War I, Western powers collaborated with Christian and other minorities to bring down the Ottomans. In the carnage that followed, as many as 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered, a similar number of ethnic Greeks expelled and 1 million Turks deported from Greece.

The 1923 Lausanne Treaty founded the Republic of Turkey and recognized minorities. But deep mistrust persists, and even today among ardent nationalists, Christians are seen as a potential fifth column.

"It's a kind of preemptive intolerance: Don't let it flourish because it might take over," said Mustafa Akyol, a writer and expert on interfaith relations. "Everyone is afraid of something."

Akyol, a Muslim, said he once wrote a column advocating that the museum of St. Sophia, or Aya Sofya, in Istanbul be returned to its original use, that of a church. The response was harsh: He was threatened and castigated as a "secret Greek." The pope is scheduled to visit St. Sophia, built in the 6th century as a Byzantine church and converted to a mosque in the 15th century by the Ottomans.

The mere rumor that the pope might say a prayer at the site has led to a bit of hysteria. Islamic newspaper Milli Gazete, in a front-page commentary last week, lashed out at the government for permitting the "Crusaders" to plan to bless the former church in a brazen attempt to "revive Byzantium."

For their part, Turkish officials have sought to minimize the pontiff's main mission on this trip: to worship alongside Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, head of the world's Orthodox Christians. The coming together of the two religious leaders is meant as a bridging of the 1,000-year-old rift between the two ancient branches of Christianity.

Such frictions notwithstanding, Turkey, compared with many Muslim countries, is relatively hospitable to non-Muslims. But its failure to make more progress on freedom-of-religion issues has been an important stumbling block in its years-long campaign to join the European Union.

It is EU pressure that has nudged Ankara along in easing some of the restrictions on minorities; for example, a Protestant group in Istanbul has for the first time been allowed to open a church.

"The EU reforms give people a sense of hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel," said Greek Orthodox Father Alexander Karloutsos. "It's been very dark here."

================================================================

Oh, I am banging my head on the wall! I knew there was something odd about the Pope going to the Diyanet to meet with Bardakoglu. Where was my brain? Of course, the flagrant breach of protocol! A visiting head of state does not go to visit anyone else but his opposite number - in this case, the Turkish President. Anyone lower comes to him. (We're referring to state officials here].

So Bardakoglu has already extracted his pound of flesh from Benedict - to get him to come to his office, like any other visitor. That is, he may think of it as his 'pound of flesh' and he will have it to brag about in his CV!

But who among us thinks the Pope minds it at all? (even if his protocol officers had to go on record with their objections, hence the 'negotiation')... I'm all for it [but God forbid there is any traitorous plot involved!]. It's very Christian - not to mention just plain sensible - not to stand on false pride, and I am glad the Holy Father is setting an example.

Considering who Ali is and what he has been saying about the Pope, this meeting at the Diyanet is really the high point of the Pope's first day in Turkey. And remember, both of them will be delivering an address on this occasion!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/11/2006 5.51]

How Turks see the pope - II


Sunday, November 26, 2006
Mustafa Akyol
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Among those Turkish nationalists who do not welcome Pope Benedict XVI, the third category would be secular nationalists, who are in line with the anti-EU forces in Turkey's civil and military bureaucracy. They see the whole West as an imperialist enemy dying to carve Turkey into pieces by re-implementing the infamous Treaty of Sèvres -- a 1920 document that only a handful of non-Turkish historians but the whole Turkish nation remembers. For them Pope Benedict XVI is simply the religious face of “Western imperialism.” His effort to consolidate Christianity is interpreted as the preparation for a new Crusade.

The secular nationalists: No king but Caesar:

These crusade-phobic Turks also see a fifth column of the enemy in their very midst: the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. The very title proves the existence of the evil intentions of the Patriarchate, these Turks say, because “ecumenical” means “universal.” “So what,” you may ask. Well, the argument is that by using the term “ecumenical,” the Patriarchate is claiming for itself an authority that will surpass that of the Turkish Republic. And that this might have political implications, such as the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire and, thus, the end of Turkish sovereignty over Istanbul.

Of course, the Patriarchate existed well before the Turkish Republic, even before the first Turk set foot on Anatolian soil, with its ecumenical title. Moreover, the Ottomans who conquered Istanbul in 1453 granted the Patriarchate full religious freedom and saw no trouble in its name. Actually until a decade ago, no one cared about what it called itself. But in line with the rising nationalist tide, the term “ecumenical” first became a target and then a heretical word. Although prominent Muslim intellectuals such as Ali Bulaç have defended the right of the Patriarchate to define itself, many nationalists, including the secularist ones, are furious about it. “Secularism” is understood in Turkey not as the separation of church (or mosque) and state, but as the domination by the latter -- or the Caesar, if you will -- of the former.

What connects all this to the pope's visit is the question whether he will use the term “ecumenical” while referring to his Istanbul-based colleague, Patriarch Bartolomeos. There are a plenty of discussions nowadays in the Turkish media about how to prevent the pope from using that blasphemous term and what to do if he does. A similar worry is what to do if he wishes to pray at Aya Sofya, the magnificent church that was turned into a mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935. Alas, his prayer might infringe on Turkish sovereignty under one of the greatest domes on earth. All nationalists, from the most secular to the most religious, are deeply worried about this and many other similar perceived threats. That's why, in today's Turkey, die-hard Islamists and hardcore secularist Kemalists can join forces to rally against the EU process, or simply, against freedom.

Making moderates' life difficult:

As mentioned before, this nationalist perspective is not shared by all Turks. In Turkey, there are many opinion leaders who argue for more freedom for everyone, including the Patriarchate and all the minorities. They can be roughly defined in two categories: Muslim liberals and secular liberals. Although the former are often called “conservatives” because of their stance on moral issues, they are pro-freedom in political terms.

The current Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has enjoyed the support of both of these liberal camps in the past four years; however, they have recently been feeling themselves under so much pressure from the nationalist trend in society and the bureaucracy that they had to take a few steps back. Alas, they were accused of “treason” for being soft on Cyprus and the Kurds, liberalizing the Turkish economy or letting unconventional intellectuals speak out on controversial issues like the Armenian tragedy of 1915. Their cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and their welcoming of foreign direct investment is also attacked. A nationalist Web site goes as far as to call the AKP a “Jewish party” in bed with the elders of Zion. The government, along with the moderate Muslim communities in the Turkey, is also attacked for being an example of “moderate Islam.” The Islamists abhor the term “moderate” in that definition, the secularists the “Islam” part.

The real problem is, though, that the West has not been helping this “moderate Muslim” government -- and all such tendencies in the Islamic world -- with its words or deeds. The carnage in Iraq created deep resentment against the United States, and the European Union disillusioned many Turks with its discouraging approach and double standards. The rise of Islamophobia in the West just creates more fuel for the fire. And, as if there were not enough trouble, Pope Benedict XVI himself alienated a billion Muslims with his Regensburg speech.

This is the landscape into which the pontiff will step next week. He will find very few real sympathizers, more welcomers and a lot of non-welcomers. The latter group does not mean that he is in danger: Turkish authorities will protect him in the same way that they did U.S. President George W. Bush, and am I sure that he will be treated well. The fact that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be out of the country during those days is a pity, and people are wondering whether this is intentional. Hard to tell. But note that Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of the Islamist Saadet (Happiness or Contentment) Party (SP), is accusing the AKP of wanting to “kiss the hand of the pope who is coming to re-establish Byzantium with the patriarch.” It just might not be the politically correct meeting to hold.

However, the AKP's second man, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, offered to meet the pope at a dinner, but the pope refused. This confused many minds here: Why is the pope coming? Does not he wish to establish dialogue with Muslims? Or is he coming simply to join forces with the patriarch? Many Turks are pondering these questions, and the Holy Father would do a great favor for all of us if he heals the fears of the nationalists and softens the reactions of Muslims to his Regensburg speech. Dialogue and understanding among the faithful is desperately needed today, and we pray and hope the pontiff will aid in that.