There is one month to go to Benedict XVI’s apostolic journey to Turkey, and the Catholics’ expectations are escalating in the Muslim country. "It will be a pastoral visit", highlights, in an interview with SIR, the president of the Turkish Bishops Conference, mgr. Ruggero Franceschini, who thinks "it is wrong to portray the Pope’s arrival as simply a way to demand respect for human rights, especially religious freedom for Christians. It will be a privileged opportunity to build relations of cohabitation with the Muslim majority. What we have at heart is that the Pope may gain an insight of the identity of our ecclesial communities, because it is through them that the Church can make its presence be felt in the Turkish society". In the interview, mgr. Franceschini does not fail to place emphasis on the ecumenical side to the Pope’s journey: "I hope it will further boost dialogue. We must live unity to be more credible and to make our voice heard even louder. There are many obstacles and mistrust to overcome, but only mutual knowledge can smooth out those prejudices that slow down the path to unity". While waiting for the Pope, initiatives of prayer and pilgrimages are flourishing in the Turkish dioceses: "May the Lord inspire the things to say and do when the Pope will be a pilgrim along the roads of the first Church", concludes the archbishop of Izmir.
