Our World

Pope Visits Turkey

What do you think about Pope Benedict’s visit to Turkey? It has created much controversy with Muslims around the world. In September the Pope made negative comments about Prophet Muhammed; suggesting violence was directly linked to him and the Islam religion. With the war and these comments, it takes courage for him to visit Turkey at this time. In fact, this is Pope Benedict’s first visit to a Muslim country.
The Turkish capital was of course under very tight security with snipers on buildings and sniffer dogs everywhere. It was reported that more than 20,000 Turks were protesting in Istanbul last Sunday. Although the Prime Minister of Turkey was leaving for a NATO summit, he stayed until the Pope arrived to officially greet him. The Prime Minister said he hoped, “Turks would be courteous and show hospitality to the pontiff.”
What’s rather interesting is that the Pope now says he supports Turkey’s desire to join the European Union (EU) and announced this when he met with the prime minister. Ironically, just last year, before becoming Pope, he stated that Turkey’s Muslim religion didn’t belong in the EU. Knowing this and his previous remarks in Sept., I’m not sure the Pope’s visit can really create an understanding between different cultures and religions. One of the Pope’s goals of this trip was to establish “dialogue” between Christians and Muslims. Talking is indeed a starting point, but do you think the number of possible protests and violence will overtake the Pope’s reason for visiting and do more harm than the good intended?
www.cnn.com

posted by Anonymous @ 12/01/2006 03:51:00 PM