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  • Turkey: Pope Embraces An Ally

    TURKEY: POPE EMBRACES AN ALLY

    The New York Times
    December 1, 2014 Monday

    : By SEBNEM ARSU

    ISTANBUL -- Pope Francis and his counterpart in the Orthodox Church
    on Sunday vowed to work together to prevent an exodus of Christians
    from the Middle East, and they called for "constructive dialogue"
    with Muslims to resolve conflicts in the embattled region and around
    the world.

    "We cannot resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians,
    who have professed the name of Jesus there for two thousand years,"
    the pope and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church
    said in a common declaration issued here on the last leg of a three-day
    papal visit to Turkey.

    The pope made frequent mention on his trip of the plight of Christians
    and other minorities in areas of Syria and Iraq who have been the
    focus of persecution by the Islamic State.

    His attention to the issue was highlighted in a meeting with a group
    of young Christian and Muslim refugees from Syria, Iraq and Africa at
    the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Istanbul. Pope Francis listened
    as an Iraqi Christian girl described the refugees' sufferings and
    expressed gratitude for his visit.

    "I wish to assure you that I share your sufferings," the pope said in
    an address to about 100 young people. "I hope my visit, by the grace
    of God, may offer you some consolation in your difficult situation."

    "The degrading conditions in which so many refugees are forced to
    live are intolerable," he added, and called for greater international
    cooperation "to counter the other causes which are driving people to
    leave their home countries, and to improve conditions so that people
    may remain or return home."

    Francis repeated his gratitude to the Turkish government, which
    is currently sheltering over 1.6 million refugees from Syria, and
    has relocated nearly 50,000 ethnic Yazidis from Iraq who escaped
    persecution by the Islamic State since late summer to camps in both
    Turkey and Iraq.

    In their common declaration, the pope and Ecumenical Patriarch
    Bartholomew, who represents 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide,
    asked for dialogue and respect for international law in helping to
    resolve the conflict in Ukraine, "a country of ancient Christian
    tradition," and encouraged "constructive dialogue with Islam based
    on mutual respect and friendship."

    "Inspired by common values and strengthened by genuine fraternal
    sentiments," the statement said, "Muslims and Christians are called
    to work together for the sake of justice, peace and respect for
    the dignity and rights of every person, especially in those regions
    where they once lived for centuries in peaceful coexistence and now
    tragically suffer together the horrors of war."

    Earlier in the day, the sounds of chimes and the smell of incense
    filled the small 17th-century Church of St. George in the Fener
    neighborhood of Istanbul as the leaders of the two churches embraced
    each other against a background of elaborate gold decorations and
    centuries-old mosaics.

    Both expressed a strong will to promote the full unity of Catholic
    and Orthodox Churches, which were divided 960 years ago.

    Before his departure for Rome late Sunday, the pope met Isak Haleva,
    the chief rabbi of Turkey, and visited Armenian Patriarch Mesrop II,
    who represents the largest Christian community of Turkish Armenians,
    around 50,000 people, and who has been in poor health for several
    years.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/world/europe/pope-in-turkey-issues-call-to-protect-middle-eastern-christians.html


    From: Baghdasarian
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