Catholic World News
Nov 25 2006
Christian flight from Turkey has halted, prelate reports
Rome, Nov. 24 (CWNews.com) – The gradual disappearance of Christians
from Turkey seems to have ended, according to prefect of the
Congregation for Eastern Churches.
Speaking on Vatican Radio a few days before Pope Benedict XVI (bio –
news) begins his visit to Turkey, Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud said
that the number of Christians remaining there is holding steady at
about 30,000.
Turkey, a "cradle of Christianity," remains an important site for
"fraternal dialogue between religions and cultures," the cardinal
said. He added that the Catholic community in the predominantly
Muslim country is itself diverse. There are three Latin-rite bishops
in Turkey’s episcopal confenference, along with 2 Armenian Catholic
prelates, and 2 patriarchal vicars: one Syrian Catholic and the other
Chaldean Catholic. Maronite and Byzantine Catholics are also
represented, he added. Turkish Catholicism, Cardinal Dauoud
continued, is known for a special historic devotion to the Mother of
God, the apostolic tradition, and the fathers of the early Church. He
recalled that the country had been the site of some important early
councils, such as the councils of Nicea (in 325 and 787),
Constantinople (381, 553, 680, and 870), Ephesus (431), and Chalcedon
(451).
Turkey, the cardinal concluded, is "a privileged place for the
implantation of Christianity." During the early years of the Church,
the county say "the flowering of theologies and of rites," giving the
land an unusually rich tradition of Christianity that endures to this
day.
Cardinal Daoud will be a member of the delegation traveling to Turkey
with the Holy Father, along with four other cardinals: Tarcisio
Bertone, the Secretary of State; Walter Kasper, the president of the
Pontifical Council for Christian Unity; Paul Poupard, the president
of the Pontifical Council for Culture; and Roger Etchegaray, a
retired Vatican official who has frequently served as a special
representative of the Holy See in delicate diplomatic circumstances.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress