Pope urges prayers for Turkish pilgrimage

(Nov. 27, 2006) Pope Benedict XVI who on Tuesday starts a 4-day pilgrimage to predominantly Muslim Turkey, on Sunday urged prayers for the success of this visit saying he wants to show his "esteem and sincere friendship" for the country and its people through this visit. "Starting right now, I want to send a cordial greeting to the dear Turkish people, rich in history and culture. To these people and their representatives I express feelings of esteem and sincere friendship," the Pope told thousands of people gathered below his window overlooking St. Peter's Square. He said he was looking forward with "deep emotion" to his meeting with the small Catholic community and leaders of the Orthodox Church in the predominantly Muslim country. "I ask you all to accompany me with your prayers so that this pilgrim age will bring the fruits that God desires," he said to loud applause from the crowd under bright sunshine. The Pope's trip to Turkey has been made highly contentious by Muslim reaction to a controversial university lecture the Pope made last September in his native Germany. Pope Benedict and the Vatican have several times expressed regret over the pain his remark caused, explaining it was not his own opinion but a quotation of the 14th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus who had said that Islam had brought “things only evil and inhuman.” Tensions over the Pope's visit have risen in Turkey and an Islamist party as well as some nationalist groups held a mass protest in Istanbul on Sunday.
Meanwhile, two new stops have been added to the programme of Pope Benedict XVI during his 4 day pilgrimage to Turkey, showing goodwill attempt at reconciliation between the Catholic Church and Islam. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has changed his plans and will meet Pope Benedict XVI in Turkey on Tuesday, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said on Monday. Erdogan had originally planned not to meet the pope, saying he couldn't because he would be attending a NATO summit in Latvia. He will now meet the Pontiff on his arrival at Ankara’s airport before leaving for Latvia. Fr. Lombardi regarded the scheduling of the meeting with the Turkish prime minister as a very positive gesture towards the Holy Father, who, he said, was very pleased. Earlier on Sunday, Fr. Lombardi said a stop at Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque has also been added to the Pope’s schedule. It would be Benedict’s first visit to a mosque as Pope. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made the first visit by a pontiff to a mosque during a trip to Damascus, Syria, in 2001. The Sultanahmet, or Blue Mosque, is the most famed in Turkey and a popular tourist attraction. It stands in a square of the same name in the historical district of Istanbul, opposite the Aya Sofya museum, which originally was an Eastern Orthodox church converted to a mosque in 1453 by the Turks, and then again converted into the present museum in 1935.
Turkish officials have said there was a mistaken belief that Erdogan was snubbing the Pope on his first official visit to a Muslim country because of comments by the Pontiff that sparked outrage in the Muslim world. Turkish intellectuals see the visit as an opportunity for the officially secular country to show European Union sceptics that it is an open society worthy of the EU membership it seeks.