Pope Benedict XVI has called on Turkey to give legal recognition to the Roman Catholic Church in the Muslim-majority but politically secular nation, which has been criticized for its treatment of religious minorities as it seeks to join the European Union.
Receiving Kenan Gursoy, the new Turkish ambassador to the Vatican last week (Jan. 7), Benedict said Catholics appreciated the freedom of worship, “guaranteed by the constitution” in Turkey. However, he added that “civil juridical recognition” would help the church, “to enjoy full religious freedom and to make an even greater contribution to society.”
About 99 percent of Turkey’s 77-million people are Muslim. The Catholic Church there has about 32,000 members.
One might have wished that the Pontiff had included reference to Constantinople’s (and Asia Minor’s) indigenous Christians: the Greek Orthodox, whose Ecumenical Patriarchate occupies a restricted compound in the city and whose primary seminary has been closed by the Turkish goverment. That situation cries injustice far louder than the Roman Catholic one.
I agree completely with Anastasios; I might even call it a major gaffe vis-a-vis Orthodox relations, if the concern was voiced exclusively over Roman Catholicism.
I’ll go further: the situation Turkey has created for its indigenous Christians, even recognizing the strategic importance of that nation, should be a major impediment to relations with the U.S. and the rest of the West. The truth these days, however, is that Erdogan is moving Turkey out of the Western orbit, NATO membership notwithstanding. At least we ought to have our principles.
You’re bsolutely right, Anastasios (#1). And then, of course, there’s also the matter of Turkey officially recognizing what it has so long denied, namely the terrible extent of the genocidal campaign to wipe out the Armenian minority on the eastern border back during Word War I. Most reasonable estimates are that the Ottoman Empire, headquartered in Istanbul, slaughtered something like 1.5 million Armenian Christians in 1914-15, in the first major case of “ethnic cleansing” in the 20th century. It would certainly help if Turkey took responsibility for its bloody past and publicly renounced those past efforts to suppress Christianity.
David Handy+
I have to disagree strongly with Anastasios and Phil. It would seem intolerably imperialistic if the Pope spoke for the Orthodox Church, and above all spoke for the Ecumenical Patriarch. It would prompt a fierce response: ‘We can speak for ourselves.’ Do remember, though, that he and Patriarch Bartholomew are on very good terms and enjoy an excellent relationship. And yes, yes, yes, the way the Turks treat the Orthodox is scandalous. Apart from the seminary being closed, property has been illegally confiscated and such tight restrictions placed on who may become patriarch as to create an very limited pool from which to draw.
Certainly the Pope should not encroach on what properly belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul). However, it seems rather self-serving to advocate for 32,000 of their own people when the “Vatican” of Eastern Orthodoxy is under relentless pressure from the Turkish government to close down completely and abandon the seat of their Church. They have no voice in their own country. Any and all help from anyone with any clout would have to be welcome.
Come to think of it — how about the ol’ ABC chiming in. I have to agree with # 1,2 & 3 here.
Critical comments of my original statement have validity, of course, but attempts to establish the rights of Romans in Turkey without reference to the Orthodox may well prompt Greek memories of the Latin Patriarchate set up in Constantinople during the Crusades. Memories are very, very long in those parts, and whether they are completely and historically accurate or not if they are not taken into consideration when addressing the religious future of Europe, there will be no progress.