2ND Benedict meets Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew

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dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday November 29, 2006

Istanbul- Pope Benedict XVI met and prayed with Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I on Wednesday evening at the beginning of what Vatican officials have described as the most exciting event of the pope's four-day visit to Turkey. "We welcome you with great joy, honour and love," said Bartholomew as he greeted the pope.

The visit to the patriarch is seen as a significant step in trying to mend the ancient rift that saw the eastern Orthodox church split from the western Catholic church in the 11th century.

"It gives me great joy to be among you... as we pray together... for the full unity of Catholics and Orthodox," Benedict said after a prayer service in the patriarchal cathedral located in the patriarchate where Bartholomew resides in the heart of old Istanbul.

At the end of the common prayer, the relics of Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint John Chrysostom were venerated. The relics were returned to the patriarchate by Pope John Paul II in 2004, having been taken by Catholic crusaders who looted Constantinople in the 13th century.

While there are only a few thousand Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul, Bartholomew is considered "first among equals" amongst the various patriarchs of the Orthodox church.

Earlier on Wednesday the pope presided over his first mass in Turkey at a shrine to Mary, mother of Jesus near the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus.

After a day of diplomatic activity in Ankara on Tuesday, the pope flew to Izmir from where he travelled by helicopter to the site of where spiritual tradition says Mary spent the last years of her life.

Reciting the open-air mass the pope quoted Pope John XXIII who had said when he was papal representative to Turkey: "I love the Turks. I appreciate the natural qualities of these people who have their own place reserved in the march of civilization."

The pope also expressed his solidarity with the small Christian community that live in Turkey and acknowledged the problems some have in practising their religion in predominantly Muslim Turkey.

"In this visit I have wanted to convey my personal love and spiritual closeness, together with that of the universal church, to the Christian community here in Turkey, a small minority which faces many challenges daily," the pope said.

On Thursday the pope was scheduled to join Bartholomew at the Orthodox feast of St. Andrew, an apostle of Jesus and the first bishop of Constantinople. He was later to visit Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II.

Also on Thursday the pope was to visit the Blue Mosque and the nearby Hagia Sophia Basilica, once the largest church in Christendom before it was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, and then turned into a museum in 1935.

Security for the pope's visit to Istanbul was extremely high with major roads closed down and thousands of police out on the streets.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency