Pope’s third day in Turkey

The third day began with the celebration of mass and then the Pope paid a visit to the Chief Rabbi of Turkey, Isak Haleva.

On November 30, the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Andrew, brother of Saint Peter, the patron of the Church of Constantinople. On this day the Pope was present during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox Patriarchate as the guest of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

At the end of the liturgy, the Pope and the Patriarch signed a second joint declaration, the first having been signed in Jerusalem in May. Once again the two leaders expressed their firm resolve to move towards unity. The declaration also expresses concern for the fate of Christians in the Middle East, proclaiming that it is unacceptable to think of a Middle East without Christians. Finally, the declaration calls for dialogue with Muslims based upon the values that Christians and Muslims share.

Read the declaration here

The Pope also met with a group of refugees. He assured them that he shared their suffering: “I hope my visit, by the grace of God, may offer you some consolation in your difficult situation. (…) Yours is the sad consequence of brutal conflicts and war, which are always evils and which never solve problems. Rather, they only create new ones.”

Before leaving for the airport, the Pope paid a visit to the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Mesrob Mutafian, who is hospitalized.

The Pope returned to Rome after the three day visit.