Pope calls trip to Turkey 'unforgettable'

The pontiff, who returned Friday from the four-day visit, made a special mention of Turkey's Catholic community during his traditional blessing from his window in St. Peter's Square that also marked the beginning of Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas and is the beginning of the ecclesiastical year.

Benedict said his trip was "an unforgettable spiritual and pastoral experience, which I hope will produce the fruits for an increasingly sincere cooperation between all of Christ's disciples, and a useful dialogue with Muslims."

"I would especially like to remember with affection the dear Catholic community that lives on Turkish land," the pope added. "I was able to celebrate Holy Mass with our brothers and sisters, who often find themselves in situations that are not easy."

Benedict's trip was originally envisioned as a pilgrimage to reinforce Christian bonds and reach out to Turkey's remaining Christians, including Catholics estimated to number between 20,000 and 30,000.

But after the pope gave a speech in September that angered many Muslims, it became a test of the Vatican's ability to mend ties with the Islamic world.

Muslims throughout the world reacted angrily — and in some cases violently — to the speech, in which Benedict quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

The pope sought to remake his battered image among Muslims during four days of speeches, sermons and a moment of silent prayer in a mosque while facing Mecca.

Benedict's visit to a mosque was only the second in papal history. His predecessor Pope John Paul II made a groundbreaking visit to the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus, Syria in May 2001.

Still, many religious leaders in the Arab world said Sunday that Benedict had yet to make amends for his remarks before relations could fully be restored.

A spokesman for Jordan's influential Muslim Brotherhood chapter labeled the pope's visit to Turkey as "futile," saying the Roman Catholic pontiff had yet to apologize completely to Muslims.

In Kuwait, Shiite cleric Abdul-Hussein Qazwini said he believed the pope's visit would have been more meaningful "if had it been made to a Muslim country such as Saudi Arabia or Iran," rather than to Turkey, Benedict's first visit to a predominantly Muslim country.

Qazwini called Turkey "a secular country, and said that the pope's visit there "had no effect on anything."

During his trip, the pope also made some sensitive demands: wider protection and rights for Christian minorities in the Muslim world, including Turkey's tiny communities whose roots go back to the apostles.

On Friday, he celebrated a Mass for members of Turkey's Roman Catholic community, which numbers no more than 30,000.

"I was able to meet and celebrate Holy Mass with these brothers and sisters of ours, who live in conditions that often aren't easy," Benedict said Sunday. "It is truly a tiny, varied flock, rich with enthusiasm and faith." The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/