Muslim-majority Turkey, which is internet hosting Pope Leo XIV on his first abroad journey as pontiff, is just not “a hostile setting” for Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople instructed AFP in an interview.
“It’s simplistic to see adversaries in all places and to think about the pope’s go to as taking sides in a hostile setting,” stated Patriarch Bartholomew I, chief of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.
On Friday, Bartholomew joins Leo for celebrations in Iznik, round two hours from Istanbul, to mark 1,700 years for the reason that First Council of Nicaea, a key early Church gathering that resulted in an announcement of religion nonetheless central to Christianity.
After arriving in Ankara on Thursday and assembly President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom critics have accused of eager to Islamise society, the pope described Turkey as a “crossroads of sensibilities” that was richer for its “inside variety”.
Turkey has a inhabitants of 86 million however solely about 100,000 Christians.
Numbers have been hit by the Armenian genocide — a time period denied by Ankara — throughout the Ottoman Empire, and the inhabitants exchanges and pogroms that noticed many Greek Orthodox go away within the early twentieth century.
– ‘Blessing in disguise’ –
However Bartholomew stated residing in a Muslim nation had its benefits.
“Dwelling in a predominantly Muslim nation is a blessing in disguise as a result of it sustains and strengthens the important function of the Ecumenical Patriarchate… open and trustworthy dialogue with all folks in every single place, no matter race and faith,” he stated.
The timing of Leo’s go to, coming at a second of battle, was vital, he stated.
“This yr, when the world is troubled and divided by battle and antagonism, our assembly with Pope Leo XIV is particularly vital,” he stated.
“It reminds our trustworthy that we’re extra highly effective and extra credible once we are united in our witness and response to the challenges of the modern world.”
The Japanese Orthodox Church sustained a significant blow in 2018 when the Moscow Patriarchate broke ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate after it recognised the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence from Russia.
However Bartholomew insisted “the door of dialogue is at all times open”.
The patriarch, who in March 2022 stated he had grow to be “a goal of Moscow”, refuses to budge in his stance towards the Ukraine warfare, urging the Moscow Patriarchate to interrupt away from the Kremlin.
“The non secular leaders in Russia can’t observe blindly the inhumane pursuits and barbarous insurance policies of its political leaders. Nor can they indiscriminately condone and even bless the bloodshed in Ukraine,” he stated.