” “”The Pope’s pastoral journeys too contribute to accomplish his mission that winds up "into concentric circles". This was said this morning by Benedict XVI, during the general audience in Aula Paolo VI, focussed on his apostolic journey to Turkey. "In the innermost circle explained the Pontiff as he referred to the Lumen Gentium the Successor of Peter confirms Catholics in faith, in the central one he meets the other Christians, in the outermost one he addresses himself to non-Christians and to all mankind”. Speaking of the first day of his journey and his meetings with the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic, the President of Religious Affairs and his speech to the Diplomatic Corps, the Pope defined it "an important part of my trip, specially if one considers that Turkey has a wide majority of Muslims, although it is regulated by a Constitution that asserts the lay character of the State. It is therefore commented Benedict XVI an emblematic country in terms of the big challenge that is played today all over the world: on one side one must rediscover the reality of God and the public relevance of religious faith, on the other side one has to make sure that the expression of such faith is free, unaffected by any fundamentalist degeneration, able to firmly disavow any form of violence”. ” “
