Pope Francis in Turkey

On Friday, November 28, 2014, Pope Francis arrived in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. He is on a three day visit.

His first stop was the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, considered the founding father of modern Turkey. Here the Pope expressed the wish that Turkey would serve as a place of encounter “between people of all cultures, ethnicities and religions”.

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Next he visited President Erdogan in the Presidential Palace where the Pope appealed for equal rights and duties for all citizens, Muslims, Jews and Christians. He also called for a struggle against fanaticism based upon solidarity.

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In his meeting with Mehmet Gormez, the president of the Department for Religious Affairs, and other religious leaders, the Pope denounced the barbarism that the world is witnessing in Iraq and Syria and called on all religious leaders to stand together in condemning violence. The Pope also thanked Turkey for all the country is doing to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of refugees in her territory.

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