The Pope in Turkey

Coincidentally, AsiaNews reports on the itinerary :

The programme of the apostolic voyage is now official and on Monday 18 September, members of the Bishops’ Conference of Turkey will come together in Istanbul to define the final logistical details.

Two pieces of news have leaked out: the first is about a one-day extension of the pontiff’s visit to the land of the Crescent: he will be in Istanbul on 1 December as well (the previous dates were from 28 to 30 November), a day added only at the last minute. Mgr Padovese explained why: “The Pope realized that time was too tight and that particularly, there was no meeting with Catholic believers on the schedule. And they themselves complained because the organizers of the trip did not manage to fix an appointment just for them on the Holy Father’s packed agenda. So the morning of Friday 1 December will be dedicated especially to them, they will be able to meet the pontiff and attend Mass presided over by him, which will be held in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, obviously in the presence of all the religious authorities and bishops of Turkey.”

And at the end of his trip, on the same day, Benedict XVI will visit the historical museum of Santa Sofia. The imposing Basilica which until 1453 was the most sublime symbol of Christianity in the East was a church for 916 years, then a mosque and finally, deconsecrated by order of AtaTurk in 1935, it became a museum. It is still an object of controversy for nationalists who claim it as a place of Islamic worship. The planned visit has baffled Turks who are fearful that the Pontiff may want to stake a Christian claim there, or expect to pray inside. The visit will be a private one, bearing in mind that the place is a museum and should be respected as such, in line with the will of those who made it so, thus guaranteeing access to all believers but without public religious manifestations.

The other novelty is a stop in Ephesus, precisely at the House of Our Lady, on 29 November. It had been speculated that he may spend this day between meetings, with the civil authorities in Ankara and religious ones in Istanbul, in Trabzon. This is the city on the Black Sea where Don Andrea Santoro was killed last winter, a tragic event that unblocked the invitation to the Pope from the president of the Republic of Turkey. Another possibility mooted was Antioch – a city in southern Turkey, where for the first time, the disciples of Jesus were called Christians – where he would have been able to give a strong signal of ecumenical dialogue, meeting at the same time the five patriarchs of the East that hold the name of “Antiochians” (Greek Orthodox – Syrian Orthodox – Melchite – Maronite – Syrian Catholic).

However, Meryem Ana was chosen, the small house at the top of a hill on the Aegean Sea, where tradition has it that Mary lived out the last years of her life, and from where she was assumed into heaven. The pontiff will go to pray at this national Marian shrine, continuing in the tradition of his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II.

Then there are the other significant stops. The first day (28 November) will be dedicated to political authorities: the welcome ceremony will not be at the airport of Ankara but at the presidential palace, where the pope will meet the Turkish president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer. And he will also have a private meeting with the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the diplomatic corps. On the way, he will also go to the mausoleum of Ataturk, to pay homage to the father of Turkey, founded in 1923 on the ruins of the old and decadent Ottoman Empire.

On the evening of 29 November, the pontiff will have a private audience with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I. After prayers in the patriarchal church of St George on 30 November, the feast of St Andrew, the Holy Father will attend a solemn divine liturgy presided over by the Patriarch, and at the end a joint statement will be signed.

“The contents of this statement are unknown,” said Mgr Padovese. “But surely it will be another step in ecumenical dialogue, in the quest for unity, already started with the resumption of deliberations last autumn of the Commission of Theological Dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, desired by John Paul II during his visit to Turkey in 1979.”

This dialogue, which has been extended also to all the sister Churches of the East, will see another significant gesture in the visit of the Pontiff to Mesrob II, the Armenian Patriarch, pastor of a Christian community that has always been present in Turkey and which despite everything, remains numerous and vibrant.