TURKISH CHRISTIANS MARKING 2000 YEARS SINCE BIRTH OF ST PAUL
Jonathan Luxmoore

Ecumenical News International
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Jan 10 2008
Switzerland

Warsaw (ENI). Turkey’s small Roman Catholic community hopes to mark
the 2000th anniversary of the birth of St Paul by improving the
status of the country’s Christian minorities, as well as reopening
a church at the apostle’s birthplace in Tarsus in the south of the
Muslim-majority country.

"This anniversary is certain to attract large numbers of pilgrims,
who will obviously need a church where they can feel at home and
pray," Bishop Luigi Padovese, the Catholic Church’s apostolic vicar of
Anatolia told Ecumenical News International. "A government commission
is now formally considering our request. But senior officials have
agreed we should be able to worship here. After all, we’re not
missionaries – we are merely answering the needs of church members."

The Italian-born bishop was speaking on 8 January during preparations
for a pilgrimage to St Paul’s burial place in Rome to mark the
anniversary year, which formally begins on 28 June.

Padovese said a pastoral letter concerning the anniversary would be
read in all Catholic churches on 25 January, the anniversary of the
saint’s conversion to Christianity. Talks on ecumenical initiatives
are also underway with the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople and other denominations that make up Turkey’s 120
000-strong Christian minority.

However, the church counted on officials in Tarsus, nearly 920
kilometres (570 miles) south of Istanbul to make facilities available
for pilgrims from around the world, said Bishop Padovese. He said
the church had asked to be allowed to make regular use of the
Mediterranean town’s 12th Century St Paul’s Church, which is now a
state-owned museum.

"The local authorities are aware of their town’s significance for
Christians and proud that one of its citizens was once a key figure.

On the other hand, they aren’t prepared for an increase of religious
tourism with its special requirements," said the 60-year-old Franciscan
bishop who belongs to a seven-member bishops’ conference that includes
leaders of Turkey’s Armenian, Syriac and Chaldean Catholic communities.

Pope Benedict XVI has declared 2008 the "Year of St Paul" in honour
of the saint, who was raised as a Jew named Saul in Tarsus and who
took part in the persecution of Christians, but who later changed
his name to Paul after experiencing a vision on the road to Damascus.

Paul made three return journeys through Anatolia between the years AD
47 and 57, preaching the Gospel and writing letters to the Galatians
and Ephesians, before he was arrested in Jerusalem and beheaded in
Rome in AD 65 during the persecution of Emperor Nero.

Most of Turkey’s 71 million inhabitants are Sunni Muslims, and the
government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to
respect religious freedom, a precondition for its possible membership
of the European Union. However, the 32 000-member Roman Catholic
Church is still demanding juridical recognition, including the right
to own property and benefit from association status.

A 65-year-old Italian, Adriano Franchini, became the latest Catholic
priest to be attacked when he was stabbed in the stomach by a young
assailant a week before Christmas, while a Protestant pastor, Ramazan
Arkan, survived a similar knife wound at Antalya on 31 December.

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