Simple manual workers seated together with the head of the Jewish community dressing in mourning; Protestant pastors next to the Orthodox abuna of the neighbouring village; the prefect with alowiti religious: that is the image of interfaith community presented by the Catholic parish of Antioch, the city that was the first apostolic seat of Peter, and that was besieged in recent days by citizens of Antioch eager to express their condolences for the death of John Paul II and their grief for the “loss of so saintly a man”. An eyewitness report of the spontaneous expressions of condolence was given to SIR by the parish priest, Father Domenico Bertogli, who spoke of a book of condolence full of signatures and tributes. “Never before has a Pope aroused such great interest in Turkey, where the flags were flown at half-mast on the day of the funeral, 8 April”, he declared. And he added: “At the same time that the funeral of John Paul II began in Rome, we wished to pray for and with this great Pope in the little courtyard of the Catholic church, beginning with a symphony of bells of the Orthodox church and the Catholic church”. “Pope John Paul II he said was a man of profound faith, dialogue at any price, and respect for each and every person. He did not spare himself in his efforts to ensure that peace and unity should reign between religions and between believers of the one God, as between all nations. The deep love of this man of God for the whole of the Middle East, ‘land blessed by God’, remains impressed in the heart of Turkey”. “In a variety of languages and choral invocations that would have greatly pleased John Paul II concluded the parish priest prayers were raised to God in Turkish, Hebrew and Arabic, each in his own way, in a single voice, thanking God for having given us such a man and asking for a new Pope able to bring to fulfilment the work begun by his predecessors”.
