” “"The Holy See had been informed a long time ago" of the "possible absence of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the Holy Father’s visit in Turkey" (28 November 1 December). These are the words of a release from the newsroom of the Holy See. "As to the comments published by the papers reads the release, published today about the possible absence of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the Holy Father’s visit in Turkey, we should specify that the Holy See had been informed a long time ago while getting ready for the journey that it coincided with the Prime Minister’s important engagement at the NATO summit in Latvia and had already been informed that the Head of the Government would try to be in Turkey to meet the Holy Father but could not be sure about that, and, if absent, he would have been represented by some other important government authority, i.e. the deputy Prime Minister".” “
