Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
The month of November for Pope Benedict XVI was marked by preparation for his fifth international pastoral visit which began on 28 with his departure for Turkey. A journey of meetings with the Catholic community in Turkey, the Orthodox Christian communities, and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, an important visit, the Holy Father’s first to a mainly Muslim country .
On arrival in Turkey the Pope had a meeting with the President of the Religious Affairs Directorate, Prof. Ali Bardakoğlu. The Pope told him he had prepared for the visit with the same feelings of affection for the Turkish people expressed by Blessed Pope John XXIII, at the time Archbishop Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, “who came here as Papal Representative in Istanbul”, and he recalled what Pope John Paul II said on the occasion of his visit to Turkey in 1979: ““I wonder if it is not urgent, precisely today when Christians and Muslims have entered a new period of history, to recognize and develop the spiritual bonds that unite us, in order to preserve and promote together, for the benefit of all men, ‘peace, liberty, social justice and moral values’” (Address to the Catholic Community in Ankara, 28 November 1979).”.
Pope Benedict XVI’s journey was an opportunity to strengthen ecumenical dialogue with Orthodox Christians in that country. The Holy Father addressed Patriarch Bartholomew I with words of friendship and said “May this meeting strengthen our mutual affection and renew our common commitment to persevere on the journey leading to reconciliation and the peace of the Churches”.
