VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI in Turkey - Visit to Hagia Sophia Museum, the Blue Mosque and the Catholic Armenian Apostolic Cathedral

Friday, 1 December 2006

Istanbul (Agenzia Fides) - In the afternoon of 30 November, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul, former Byzantine basilica dedicated to Divine Wisdom, later made into a mosque and today a museum. The Pope was welcomed by the president of the Museum who invited to sign the Golden Visitors Book. The Pope then went to the Sultanahmet Mosque close by, known also as the Blue Mosque because of the splendid interior blue and white ceramic panels - where he was welcomed by Mufti Mustafa Cagrici.
The next stop was at the Catholic Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Mother of God, where Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed by Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan, and took part in a Liturgy of the Word. In his address the Pope said among other things: “Our meeting is more than a simple gesture of ecumenical courtesy and friendship. It is a sign of our shared hope in God’s promises and our desire to see fulfilled the prayer that Jesus offered for his disciples on the eve of his suffering and death: “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21).”
Following the example of Jesus who died on the cross to “gather in unity the dispersed children of God and to break down walls of division”… “Christians are called to offer a radiant sign of hope and consolation to this world, so marked by conflicts and tensions” and “do everything possible to heal the wounds of separation and to hasten the work of rebuilding Christian unity”, and to thank the Lord “for the ever deeper fraternal relationship that has developed between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church”.
Before leaving the Cathedral the Pope unveiled a plaque commemorating visits of three Popes, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The Patriarch accompanied the Pope to the Audience Hall for the official presentation of the respective delegations.
When he left the Cathedral the Pope went to meet with His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian patriarch of Istanbul, with Filuksinos Yusuf Cetin, Syro-Orthodox Metropolitan, and with Isak Haleva, Chief Rabbi of Turkey. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 1/12/2006 - righe 32, parole 477)


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