The Pope in Turkey

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

Pope Benedict XVI

I’ve been following the Pope’s controversial yet ground-breaking visit to Turkey in the local news for the past few days. There’s been a lot of hype surrounding Pope Benedict’s first visit to a Muslim country ever since his words caused a major stir among Muslims all over the world. Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, the current pontiff visited a Mosque in a gesture of goodwill to the Muslims. And according to the media, he spent a few minutes praying alongside senior Muslim clerics in Turkey. Despite all the protests and anger aimed toward him and his visit by many parties, I must say that I really respect him for the unwavering courage that he showed. And I am really proud of what the Pope did and said in his efforts to bring about much needed reconciliation between the Muslims and the Christians. It must be really tough to be performing this great balancing act where one needs to be so very careful in whatever one says and does or risks offending certain groups of people on either side. I have been wondering if Pope Benedict would be able to live up to the standards set by his great predecessor, and I was quite disappointed when some of his remarks led to Muslim anger all over the world (even though his words were taken way out of context by the media). But since then, I can say that I am impressed and am thankful for him!

Not only that, but Pope Benedict is carrying on the work of his predecessor in reaching out to the Eastern Orthodox Church. His landmark meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of the Orthodox Christians, gave us a glimpse of the power and beauty of Christian unity. I like what Pope Benedict said during that meeting – The divisions which exist among Christians are a scandal to the world. Indeed. Even though disunity among Christians has caused much pain in the Church itself, such disunity is not only a bane to the Christian community, but to the world at large as well. Because if we Christians have been called to be the salt and the light of the world, so that through us the world will be blessed, then disunity points to a very big failure on our part to live up to that calling as God’s people for the world. And the world suffers as a result of that failure. I really hope that through the current leaders of the Church, God will bring together again what the Fourth Crusade tore apart, leading to the great schism between the Western and the Eastern Church. And I pray that one day, God will also heal the deep wounds caused by the Reformation that led to even more pain and division in the Western Church. Kyrie Elyson… Lord have mercy…