Pope Benedict is now meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew – it’s in the context of a prayer service. He’s speaking in English, so you can catch it on any of the live feeds I’ve linked in previous posts. A fairly standard greeting, reaching back to hsitory. Punctuated by awesome chant, and ending with the veneration of the relics of Sts. Gregory Nazianzene and St. John Chryrsostom.
A couple of commentaries:
On his first day in Turkey, Benedict XVI did not again quote sura 2:256 of the Qur’an, which he had taken as the launching point for his lecture in Regensburg: “There is no compulsion in religion.”
But it was as if he had referred to it again. In speaking in Ankara, first to the “Diyanet” for religious affairs, and then to the diplomatic corps, pope Joseph Ratzinger placed the question of freedom at the center of both addresses.
In the first of the two addresses, Benedict XVI had before him, among others, the head of religious affairs in Turkey, Ali Bardakoglu, who is one of the harshest critics of his lecture in Regensburg, but also the grand mufti of Istanbul, Mustafa Cagrici, who was one of the signatories of the open letter commenting upon that same lecture, written in mid-October by 38 illustrious Muslims from various countries, and very respectful toward the pope and his reasoning.
In speaking to them, Benedict XVI urged “an authentic respect for the responsible choices that each person makes, especially those pertaining to fundamental values and to personal religious convictions.”
Another big reason Turkey warmed to the pope was that he voiced support to Erdogan for Turkey’s efforts to enter the European Union. Erdogan lost no time announcing that fact to the media.
Papal aides later confirmed that while the Vatican has no official position on Turkey and EU membership, the pope did want to encourage Turkey’s bid to enter the union "on the basis of shared values." That implied that Turkey would meet various EU criteria before being admitted, including the guarantee of religious rights.
Some were surprised at what appeared to be a turnaround by Pope Benedict. As a cardinal in 2004, he had clearly expressed the idea that culturally and historically, Turkey did not belong to Europe.
On one level, it seemed to demonstrate that papal opinions do not automatically translate into Vatican positions.
But Father Lombardi, in a more nuanced explanation, drew a distinction between Europe as a historical entity and the European Union as a political body. He suggested that the pope’s support for Turkey’s EU membership, as a way of drawing closer to European values, is different from the historical discussion.
For its part, the Vatican was able to press somewhat on religious freedom issues, especially in a meeting with a Turkish vice prime minister. Father Lombardi said the Turkish authorities agreed in principle to hold talks with church officials on legal, personnel and property issues regarding Catholic communities.
Two points:
First, the bolded portion of the CNS article points to the hope that symbolism will be strengthened by action.
Secondly, since PM Erdogan’s remarks came across the wires yesterday, certain folks have gone berserk on various message boards and blogs accusing the Pope, for lack of a better word, of backtracking and selling out. You really just want to say…er….Erdogan, who has a bit of a biased purpose, reports…you decide?
It strikes me that anything the Pope or any Curial official has said in relation to this is not a total reversal of what has been said before. No, it’s not outright opposition, but it’s extremely conditional, isn’t it? The Christian rootedness of Europe v. Muslim-shaped, albeit secular Turkey is still a factor, but what’s being said, it seems to me, is "Sure. Meet the conditions -ahemreligiousfreedomwithawholeothersetofissuesahem – perhaps movement could be made."
And now…turning to Orthodox/Roman Catholic issues….
(BTW – a bit more on "Mary’s House" from CNS.
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