Turkey
visit to deepen friendship between Pope and Patriarch
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis travels from Ankara to Istanbul on
Saturday where he’ll visit the famous Hagia Sophia museum and the Blue Mosque.
Later in the day he’ll celebrate Mass at the Catholic Cathedral and participate
in an ecumenical prayer liturgy with Ecumencial Patriarch Bartholomew,
spiritual leader of the Orthodox world. The two men, who’ve met several times
since the start of Francis’ pontificate, will also sign a joint declaration
after celebrating a Divine Liturgy marking the feast day of St Andrew on
Sunday.
Accompanying Pope
Francis on this journey to Turkey is the head of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch. Before leaving, he sat down with
Philippa Hitchen to share his hopes ahead of this latest encounter between the
Pope and the Patriarch ….
The visit comes just
six months after the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch met together in
Jerusalem and singed a Joint Declaration about their commitment to the search
for Christian unity. Speaking of his hopes and expectations of the upcoming
visit to Turkey, Cardinal Koch says that first of all it will be another step
in deepening the good relations that already exist between Rome and
Constantinople.
He also points out
that since Pope Paul VI went to Constantinople in 1967, every Pope had made a
visit in the 2nd year of his pontificate: Saint John Paul II, Benedict
XVI, and now Francis: this – he says “is a very beautiful idea”.
The Cardinal speaks of
a long tradition of mutual visits: “The Catholic Church visits Constantinople
on the Feast of Saint Andrew on November 30, and a high delegation comes to
Rome to celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29.
Koch agrees that the
strong personal friendship between the Pope and the Patriarch can help
strengthen this engagement because – he says – the Ecumenical Patriarch is a
very good help for me: “there are some tendencies in the International
Commission that say we must leave the ecumenical theological dialogue and have
a good collaboration in other issues. But the Patriarch says we have the duty
to deepen the theological questions, and that is also my opinion and commitment
and I am very grateful for the help of the Ecumenical Patriarch”.
Asked whether the
Pope’s presence in Istanbul can help the Orthodox Church with its demands, for
example, for legal recognition or for the reopening of the Orthodox Seminary
for training new priests, Koch says that his hope is that after “this long time
that the theological school of Halki has been closed, the new Government may
have a new opportunity to open it”.
He says he has
heard from government sourches that they will be able to do so when there
is a change also in Athens, because there is no Mosque in Athens. But, Kock
points out: “this is a little strange because the Ecumenical Patriarch has no
responsibility in Athens”.
“We must resolve the
problem in Greece and we must resolve the problem in Turkey. And hopefully the
visit of the Holy Father can help resolve relationships between the Church and
the government” he says.
The journey will also
provide a strong focus on Catholic Muslim relations and on the Syrian and Iraqi
refugee crisis on the country’s border. Cardinal Koch says the pressing
situations in the Middle East, including the persecution of Christians and
other minorities, will clearly be a main issue in the conversation as both the
Patriarch and the Pope are very engaged in these problems and they can raise a
common voice against these situations.
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