Pope hailed for praying to Allah towards Mecca like Muslims
Pastor Dale Morgan
Pope hailed for praying to Allah towards Mecca like Muslims*
By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan
Reuters
Friday, December 1, 2006; 8:32 AM
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Pope Benedict ended a sensitive, fence-mending
visit to Turkey on Friday amid praise for visiting Istanbul's famed Blue
Mosque and praying to Allah there by facing toward Mecca "like Muslims."
The Pope, who sparked protests across the Muslim world with a speech two
months ago seen as criticizing Islam, looked relaxed and pleased as he
entered the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit for a mass at the end of the
four-day trip.
His first visit to a mostly Muslim country, held under tight security
for fear of protests by nationalists and Islamists, was highlighted by a
series of conciliatory gestures culminating in a stop on Thursday
afternoon in Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque.
Istanbul Grand Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, who prayed to Allah with him
there, said Benedict had faced Mecca and stood like Muslims do when they
pray aright. "These were very nice gestures," he told NTV television.
"The Pope's dreaded visit was concluded with a wonderful surprise,"
wrote daily Aksam on its front page. "In Sultan Ahmet Mosque, he turned
toward Mecca and prayed like Muslims," the popular daily Hurriyet said,
using the building's official name.
Just before leaving, Benedict said he hoped his visit was seen as "a
sign of friendship between religions" that helps bring countries and
cultures closer together.
His gestures, including support for Ankara's bid to join the European
Union and praise for Islam as a peaceful faith, seem to have persuaded
the Turks to move beyond the tension following his speech quoting a
Byzantine emperor as calling Islam violent.
But in Islam's Middle Eastern heartland, Arab commentators still call
for Benedict to issue a full apology for his speech. Shocked by the
protests it triggered, the Pope has said he did not agree with the
controversial quote but has not apologized.
Catholic officials also presented the mosque visit as a key moment of
reconciliation.
"I would compare the Pope's visit to the mosque to Pope John Paul's
gestures at the Western Wall," said veteran Vatican mediator Cardinal
Roger Etchegaray, referring to Pope John Paul II's prayers at
Jerusalem's Western Wall in 2000.
"Yesterday, Benedict did with the Muslims what John Paul did with the Jews."
TRIP BRINGS OUT THE DIPLOMAT
Benedict told Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler at the city's airport
before leaving for Rome that his visit to the Blue Mosque and the nearby
Aya Sofya museum, once a Christian church and then a mosque, had "left a
lasting impression" on him.
"A part of my heart stays here in Istanbul," he said, describing the
city as "profoundly European" and a bridge between Europe and Asia. "I
hope (my visit) "has the effect of bringing structures and civilizations
progressively closer."
The trip brought out the diplomat in the theologian who was expected to
take a tougher stand on Islam than his more outgoing predecessor John Paul.
Benedict did press during the trip for more freedom of religion in
Turkey and by extension in other mostly Muslim countries, but not in the
confrontational way some Church officials expected after he was elected
Pope in April 2005.
About 30,000 of Turkey's 100,000 Christians are Roman Catholic, mostly
living in Istanbul and Izmir.
There were only scattered protests against the visit.