New York Sun Brian Murphy November 29, 2006
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI began his pilgrimage among Turkey’s tiny Christian communities Wednesday by paying homage to an Italian priest slain during Islamic protests and expressing sympathy for the pressures facing religious minorities in the Muslim world.
The messages – made at one of the holiest Christian sites in Turkey – could set the tone for the remainder of Benedict’s first papal trip to a Muslim nation as he tries to strengthen bonds with the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
The pope is expected to sharpen his calls for what the Vatican calls “reciprocity” – that Muslim demands for greater respect in the West must be matched by increased tolerance and freedom for Christians in Islamic nations.
But too much pressure by the Roman Catholic pontiff could risk new friction with Muslims after broad gestures of goodwill in the opening hours of the trip Tuesday that sought to ease simmering Muslim anger over the pope’s remarks on violence and the Prophet Muhammad.
A statement claiming to be from al-Qaida in Iraq denounced the pope’s visit as part of a “crusader campaign” against Islam and an attempt to “extinguish the burning ember of Islam” in Turkey. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the declaration – posted on several Islamic militant Web sites – shows the need for faiths to fight “violence in the name of God.”
He said “neither the pope nor his entourage are worried.”
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