When Benedict XVI quoted 'Good Pope John' as having said : " I am fond of the Turks.."

In the context of celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Turkey , on Monday 21st of November a book presentation took place here in Rome. The book presented on this occasion was "Istanbul, where two worlds meet " , by Doctor Rinaldo Marmara.
Sponsored by the "San Pio V Institute", among the speakers at the event, were Vatican and Turkish authorities . For the Vatican Cardinal Raffaele Farina, Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church as well as the Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library, Bishop Cesare Pasini. For Turkey , this nation's Ambassador to the Holy See , Kenan Gürsoy as well as the Mayor of Şişli in Istanbul , Doctor Mustafa Sarigül.

In the course of the evening the figure of Blessed John XXIII , as illustrated in Marmara's book was discussed at length. In a special way attention was drawn to the ten years this Pope spent as Apostolic delegate to Turkey from 1935 to 1944. The spotlight was also placed on the impact his presence there had on establishing full relations between the Holy See and Turkey back in 1960.

Among the speakers at this event was Cardinal Farina who highlighted the role of culture as a bridge beween different peoples and how he views it as a God given gift.

Veronica Scarisbrick attended this presentation and was inspired to put together a programme focusing around the role of John XXIII in bridging relations between the Holy See and Turkey with the help of sound from our Vatican Radio archives.

One which begins with Pope Benedict XVI's reference to this twentieth century predecessor to the See of Peter when he visited Turkey in November of 2006 ...

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