Pope hopes Turkey trip aids dialogue with Muslims | December 05, 2006

By Phil Stewart (Reuters, December 03, 2006)
Vatican City - Pope Benedict said on Sunday he hoped his trip to Turkey last week had helped build "useful dialogue" with Muslims. During his four-day fence-mending visit, the Pope had called Islam a peaceful faith and voiced his support for Ankara's bid to join the European Union.

The gestures seem to have persuaded the Turks to move beyond the tension following the Pope's recent speech quoting a Byzantine emperor calling Islam violent.

"I hope that there will be born positive fruits ... for a useful dialogue with Muslim believers," the Pope said, addressing the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square.

The Pope, whose visit to Turkey has been marked by the tightest security ever seen for a foreign visitor, also thanked organisers "who contributed in various ways to (the trip's) peaceful and fruitful development".

It was the Pontiff's first trip to a mostly Muslim country since being elected in April 2005. He became the second Roman Catholic Pontiff to ever visit a mosque when he stopped at Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Thursday.

Beyond advancing dialogue with Muslims, the Pope said he hoped the trip had also promoted "more sincere cooperation between all the disciples of Christ".

Benedict met in Turkey with Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians. They re-committed their Churches to the quest for unity to patch up a nearly 1,000-year-old schism.

The Western and Eastern branches of Christianity split in the Great Schism of 1054 over differences on theology and papal authority.

About 30,000 of Turkey's 100,000 Christians are Roman Catholic, mostly living in Istanbul and Izmir. The Pope acknowledged the difficulties they face.

"I was able to meet and celebrate Holy Mass together with our brothers and sisters (in Turkey), who find themselves in conditions that are frequently not easy," the Pope said.

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