Pope at Audience: Fruits of pilgrimage to Turkey

Note: Following the Private Audience with the Christian-Muslim
Summit, Pope Francis commended the work of the Summit in his address
to the General Audience.

Pope at Audience: Fruits of pilgrimage to
Turkey
 http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-at-audience-fruits-of-pilgrimage-to-
turkey
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2014-12-03 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis had words of praise and thanks for
Turkey and the Salesian fathers of Istanbul, for all the good and
“hidden” work they do for countless refugees from the Iraqi and
Syrian wars.

Retracing the steps of his recent pilgrimage to Turkey during his
general audience Wednesday, the Pope also highlighted the
constant need for prayer on the journey towards full communion
with the Orthodox Church and reiterated the importance of
Christians and Muslims working together in solidarity for peace.

Rain pounded umbrellas in St. Peter’s Square Wednesday, forcing
the audience to be split in two – as the Pope himself noted
greeting the ‘brave’ pilgrims before him. Before heading out
among the thousands in the Square the Pope had first greeted the
sick and disabled who were gathered in the Paul VI audience hall,
urging them to pray to Jesus this Advent season for the strength to
carry on and blessing them before he left.

After touring through the square – despite the driving rain – the
Pope also invited pilgrims to greet the sick and disabled who were
following the catechesis through giant screens with applause.
Then he began to speak of his three day trip to Turkey over the
weekend, highlighting the ecumenical and interfaith elements of
his visit.

Below please find a Vatican Radio transcript and translation of the
Holy Father’s catechesis:

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning. It’s not a great day is it?
The weather is quite bad…but you are brave and face it
anyway! On we go! This audience is taking place in two different
places, as we do when it rains: here in the square and then there
are the sick in the Paul VI Hall. I met with them already, I greeted
them, and they are following the audience on giant screens,
because they are sick and cannot be out in the rain. Let’s greet
them there with a round of applause, everyone!

Today I would like to share some things with you from my
pilgrimage to Turkey from Friday to Sunday last. Today we retrace
the steps of the pilgrimage I made to Turkey from Friday to Sunday
last. Just as I asked you to prepare for and accompany me on that
journey with prayer, today I ask you to give thanks to the Lord for
its success and that it may bear fruits of dialogue in our relations
with our Orthodox and Muslims brethren, as well as on the path to
peace between peoples.

Firstly, I feel I must renew my gratitude to the President of the
Republic, the Prime Minister, the President for Religious Affairs
and other Authorities, who welcomed me with respect and
guaranteed the good order of events. I fraternally thank the
Bishops of the Catholic Church in Turkey, for their commitment, as
well as the Ecumenical Patriarch, His Holiness Bartholomew I, for
the warm welcome I received. Blessed Paul VI and John Paul II,
who both went to Turkey, and John XXIII, who was Papal Delegate
in that nation, protected my pilgrimage from heaven, which took
place eight years after that of my predecessor Benedict XVI. That
land is dear to every Christian, especially as the birthplace of the
Apostle Paul, for having hosted the first seven councils, and for the

presence, near Ephesus, of the "House of Virgin Mary". Tradition
tells us that the Virgin lived there, after the coming of the Holy
Spirit.

On the first day of the Apostolic Trip I paid homage at the
Mausoleum of Atatürk and I met the authorities of the country,
which is overwhelmingly Muslim, but whose constitution
establishes it as a secular state. It is forgetfulness of God, and
not His glorification, that generates violence. This is why I
insisted on the importance of Christians and Muslims working
together for solidarity, peace and justice, stating that each
State must assure citizens and religious communities real
freedom of worship.

Today, before going to greet the sick I was with a group of
Christians and Muslims who were at a meeting organized by
the Council for Interreligious Dialogue, under the leadership
of Cardinal Tauran, and they too have expressed this desire to
continue in this fraternal dialogue between Catholics,
Christians and Muslims.

On the second day I visited places that are symbolic of the
different faiths in Turkey. I did so, feeling in my heart an invocation
to the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, the merciful Father of all
humanity. The Eucharistic Celebration was the central focus of that
day, which brought together in the Cathedral pastors and faithful of
the various Catholic rites in Turkey. The Ecumenical Patriarch, the
Armenian Patriarchal Apostolic Vicar, the Syrian Orthodox
Metropolitan and representatives Protestant communities also
attended. Together we invoked the Holy Spirit, He who generates
unity in the Church: unity in faith, unity in charity, unity in inner
cohesion. The People of God, in the richness of its traditions and
articulations, is called to be guided by the Holy Spirit, in a constant
attitude of openness, docility and obedience. Our journey of
ecumenical dialogue is also the journey of our unity, of our
Catholic Church, it is the Holy Spirit who does all the work. It’s up
to us to let him do it, to welcome him and be inspired by him.

The third and final day, the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle,
offered the ideal context to consolidate fraternal relations between

the Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, and the Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople, which according to tradition is the
Church founded by the Apostle Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
Together with His Holiness Bartholomew I, I renewed the mutual
commitment to continue on the path towards the restoration of full
communion between Catholics and Orthodox. Together we signed
a Joint Declaration, a further stage on this journey. It was
particularly significant that this act took place at the end of the
solemn liturgy of the Feast of St. Andrew, which I attended with
great joy, and which was followed by a double Blessing imparted
by the Patriarch of Constantinople and by the Bishop of Rome.
Indeed, prayer is the basis for any fruitful ecumenical dialogue
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who as I said, is the one who
creates unity.

My last meeting – which was both beautiful and painful - was with
a group of young refugees, guests of the Salesians. It was very
important for me to meet some refugees from the war zones of the
Middle East, both to express to them my closeness and that of the
Church, and to emphasize the value of welcoming [refugees], an
area in which Turkey has also shown a great commitment. I want
to thank Turkey once again for its welcoming so many refugees
and sincerely thank the Salesians of Istanbul. But, these Salesian
who work with refugees, they are so good! I also met other priests
and a German Jesuit and others who work with refugees but that
Salesian oratory of refugees is a beautiful thing, it is a hidden
work. Thank you so much to all of those people who work with
refugees. Let us pray for all the refugees and IDPs, and that the
causes of this painful scourge be overcome.

Dear brothers and sisters, may Almighty and Merciful God
continue to protect the Turkish people, their leaders and the
representatives of different religions. May they build together a
future of peace, so that Turkey can be a place of peaceful
coexistence between different religions and cultures. We also pray
that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit will
make this Apostolic Journey fruitful and favor missionary fervor in
the Church, to announce to all peoples, in respect and fraternal
dialogue, that the Lord Jesus is truth, peace and love. He alone is
the Lord. Thank You.

(from Vatican Radio)