Posted on 12/01/2006 6:24:40 AM PST by NYer
Pope Benedict XVI left Turkey Friday after a momentous visit in which he reached out to Muslims and Orthodox Christians while standing firm on key issues such as papal authority and Europe's Christian roots.
Coming a mere 10 weeks after the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics outraged Muslims by appearing to equate Islam with violence, the four-day trip - Pope Benedict's first to a Muslim country - turned into a fence-mending mission.
Adding drama to diplomacy, the 79-year-old Pope made a stunning conciliatory gesture Thursday when he assumed an attitude of Muslim prayer while facing Mecca in Istanbul's Blue Mosque.
The moment was "even more meaningful than an apology" for the remarks in September, said the mufti of Istanbul, Mustafa Cagrici, who was the Pope's guide during the mosque visit.
The two men, clad in long white robes, stood motionless for about two minutes, their hands crossed on their stomachs in a classic Muslim prayer attitude known as "the posture of tranquility."
"It was something beautiful, a gesture on his part," Cagrici told the Turkish daily Sabah.
In entering the mosque, Pope Benedict became only the second Roman Catholic Pope to do so since the groundbreaking visit of his predecessor John Paul II to the great Ummayad Mosque in Damascus in 2001.
The 79-year-old pontiff said before his departure that he hoped that his visit would contribute to a "better understanding" between religions.
The visit saw unprecedented security measures - even tighter than those laid on for US President George W. Bush in 2004 - with large swathes of Istanbul closed down as the routes taken by the Pope's motorcade were kept secret.
Even before the controversy over his remarks on Islam, Pope Benedict faced an uphill struggle to win over the Turks, having been considered the "anti-Turkish Pope" for opposing Ankara's bid to join the European Union.
Turkey in the EU, he had said while still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, would be "a grave error ... against the tide of history."
He dealt with this by making a stunning U-turn on the issue moments after descending from his plane on his arrival in Ankara Tuesday, offering his support for the troubled candidacy in remarks to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
But he added two provisos Thursday, saying that respect for religious freedom must be a criterion for entry into the EU and calling on the bloc to ensure that its members respect the rights of their religious minorities.
It was a clear reference to complaints by the Orthodox Patriarchate of restrictions imposed on it by Turkey, including the closure of a theological seminary and the confiscation of a number of properties from Christian foundations.
Pope Benedict also returned to a familiar position when he called for a renewal of "Europe's awareness of its Christian roots, traditions, and values."
The main purpose of the long-planned trip and a priority of Pope Benedict's papacy - seeking reconciliation between the Western and Eastern rites of Christianity - was symbolized by a Saint Andrew's Day mass Thursday.
Saint Andrew is the Orthodox Church's patron saint who was a disciple of Jesus and the brother of Saint Peter, considered the first Catholic Pope.
After meetings with Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of some 150 million Orthodox faithful, the Pope described as a "scandal to the world" the schism between the feuding Christian branches dating back nearly a millennium.
But he remained steadfast on a major point of disagreement - papal authority - when he stressed the Vatican's "universal" role.
And we all know what he was praying for :-)
Catholic Ping
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Was that appropriate position bottoms up?
That is a beautiful pic - a definite sign of HOPE!
ISTANBUL, Turkey, NOV. 30, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's silent pause during his visit to the Blue Mosque was not prayer in the proper sense of the term, clarified the Vatican spokesman.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, confirmed, after the Holy Father's historic visit today, that "the Pope paused in a moment of meditation and recollection."
"It was a moment of personal meditation, of relationship with God, which can also be called of personal, profound prayer," Father Lombardi told journalists, "but it was not a prayer with external manifestations characteristic of the Christian faith."
He survived the trip?
Surely this man is blessed.
There must've been hundreds gunning for him.
Must have not been any Korans nearby.
I would have only one gesture if I were in a mosque.
It is still paying deference to a false god, and that's just plain creepy.
And God spoke all these words, saying:
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
Exodus 20:1-5
We Christians celebrate our liturgy facing East in anticipation of the Lord's return. This is our ancient posture. Facing East is not an exclusive property of Islam.
I'm sure most of us Freepers would love to go into a mosque and give the muslims a "gesture".
Do you realize what you just said?
You know, Theoden, a little humility goes a long way - no need to attack "Gamecock" like that.
He was demonstrating courtesy to his hosts, and I fail to see that praying to the True God in any situation could be a sin. He was not praying to Mecca, to Allah, or to any of the other Islamic weirdnesses...
The Holy Father was not showing reverence for Islam. He was praying to the One, Holy and Almighty God. And you can be sure he was praying for peace and freedom of religion.
Christians were praying eastwards long before the Muslims started. Look at the picture, if that is an attitude of Muslim prayer, then most people I know pray in a attitude of Muslims prayer. This is a nonstory that the media is trying to make something out of inorder to scandalize Christians. Don't fall for it.
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I'd like to make an