Pope to extend visit to Turkey to spend time with Catholics, visit Hagia Sophia

Catholic News Agency ^ | August 24, 2006

[NYer]

Rome, Aug. 24, 2006 (CNA) - Pope Benedict XVI will extend his planned trip to Turkey, from three days to four, in order to celebrate Mass with Turkish Catholics and pay a visit to Hagia Sophia, the former seat of the Church of Constantinople, which was transformed into a mosque and is now a Turkish Museum, Italian news service APCom has reported today.

Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia Turkey, told APCom that, "The Pope has decided to remain an extra day, the first of December, to meet the Catholics of Turkey.   It was becoming clear that the time was a little tight and there was not an encounter with the Catholics of the county in the program.”

The trip, which was formally announced on February 9th, had begun to take shape when it was realized that the Pope would be unable to accomplish everything he wanted in three short days.  

The unofficial schedule for the initial part of the Holy Father’s trip includes a series of necessary ceremonial appointments on the 28th.  The Pope, who in addition to his role as leader of the Catholic Church is also head of a sovereign state, will most likely conduct separate meetings with both Turkish President Ahment Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  According to APCom the meetings will take place separate from the Pope’s official arrival, as Turkish protocol does not allow the Turkish President to meet incoming heads of state at the airport.  Instead, upon entering the country the Pontiff will most likely be greeted by the governor of the region and the Mayor of Ankara.

On the morning of the 29th, Pope Benedict is expected to travel to Ephesus, in Smyrna, where he will say Mass at the House of the Virgin Mary and meet with the Capuchin Friars whose monastery surrounds the shrine.

The Pontiff is also widely expected to spend time with Bartholomew I, the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, with whom he will almost certainly celebrate the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle on November 30th.  

St. Andrew was the brother of Peter and is considered the patron of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.  Patriarch Bartholomew, who traditionally sends a representative to celebrate the feast of St. Peter in Rome, invited Pope Benedict to Turkey immediately following the Pope’s election in 2005.  Pope Benedict has made increased dialogue between the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Churches one of the priorities of his Pontificate and signaled his desire to accept the inviation.  However, the Turkish government, upset that the Patriarch invited the Pope to Turkey with out their approval and probably still stinging from comments Benedict had made in opposition to the country’s entry into the European Union, refused to issue an invitation in time for the Pope to visit last year.  

Now that the Pope is able to make his visit, he clearly wants to have an effect, not only on ecumenical relations but also with his flock.  With the reported extra day, the Pope will have time to celebrate Mass with the Catholics of Turkey, who are suffering increased instances of persecution from some radical sects in the primarily Muslim country.  Bishop Padovese said that all Turkish Catholics as well as all officials and bishops of the Turkish Bishops Conference will be invited to attend.

On the same day, APCom reports, the Holy Father will visit what was once one of the greatest architectural and artistic structures of the universal Church.  Hagia Sophia was built by the emperor Justinian I in 537, upon the ruins of another church built by Constantine the Great.  After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the magnificent structure was converted to a mosque.  It remained a mosque until 1935 when the Turkish government converted it into a museum.

[NYer]

[NYer]

532-537 emperor Justinian I erected the greatest Church in the ancient Christian world. The bold structure was a combination of Roman Basilica and domed Roman central building, the central element of which was a dome with a diameter of 101,7 ft (31 m) and a height of 160,7 ft. (49 m) after the example of Hadrian's Pantheon in Rome. Neither in Byzantine nor Osmane days this dimension ever was surpassed. After several seismic shocks however the dome imploded in 558. The dome we see today was consecrated in 562. The dome we see today is 23 ft (7 m) higher and was consecrated in 562. Unfortunately due to extensive redevelopment works we couldn't take pictures of it.

Daylight is flooding the church through 91 windows, illuminating the incredible beauty of the interior, which is adorned with marble tiles, elaborate, colourful mosaics and pictures, created from ceramics, precious and semiprecious stones, gold... The structure of the interior and the play of light convey the impression of weightlessness, which certainly contributed to the churches legendary fame.

Thanks to its grandeur and beauty the church served as a house of God, even under the reign of Osmane Sultans, all together for almost 1400 years! After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by the Turks under Mehmed II, the Hagia Sophia was used as mosque until the Turkish republic was founded in 1923! Today it is a museum.

[kawaii]

I do hope one day that the muslim turrets and cresents are knocked off and liturgy is once more celebrated there.

[NYer]

[Claud]

The other Roman Empire PING

[Antoninus]

The other Roman Empire PING

You mean "the same Roman Empire." If you had implied that Justinian was not the Roman Emperor in the line of Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Constantine and Theodosius the Great, he probably would have had you castrated and paraded around the city on a camel.

[DTA]

>>>>>532-537 emperor Justinian I erected the greatest Church in the ancient Christian world. The bold structure was a combination of Roman Basilica and domed Roman central building, the central element of which was a dome with a diameter of 101,7 ft (31 m) and a height of 160,7 ft. (49 m) after the example of Hadrian's Pantheon in Rome. Neither in Byzantine nor Osmane days this dimension ever was surpassed. After several seismic shocks however the dome imploded in 558. The dome we see today was consecrated in 562. The dome we see today is 23 ft (7 m) higher and was consecrated in 562. Unfortunately due to extensive redevelopment works we couldn't take pictures of it.<<<<

April 13 1204 - The sack of Constantinople by Roman Catholic Crusaders

...Thus began the sack of Constantinople, the richest city of all Europe. Nobody controlled the troops. Thousands of defenseless civilians were killed. Women, even nuns, were raped by the crusading army and churches, monasteries and convents were looted. The very altars of churches were smashed and torn to pieces for their gold and marble by warriors who had sworn to fight in service of the Christian faith. Even the magnificent Santa Sophia was ransacked by the crusaders. Works of tremendous value were destroyed merely for their material value. One such work was the bronze statue of Hercules, created by the famous Lysippus, court sculptor of no lesser than Alexander the Great. The statue was melted down for its bronze. It is but one of a mass of bronze artworks which was melted down by those blinded by greed. The loss of art treasures the world suffered in the sack of Constantinople is immeasurable. It is true that the Venetians looted, but their actions were by far more restrained. Doge Dandolo still appeared to have control over his men. Rather than wantonly destroying all around, the Venetians stole religious relics and works of art which they would later take to Venice to adorn their own churches."

[Claud]

I heard that's what happened to Narses.

[kawaii]

Good point.

There's a reason that eagle had 2 heads.

[kawaii]

That ranks as one of the saddest days in world history, along with the day the Muslims got control of it.

[Nihil Obstat]

exciting news - hope EWTN will have complete coverage. Prayers for the Pope's safety.

[NYer]

hope EWTN will have complete coverage. Prayers for the Pope's safety.

Rest assured that EWTN will provide full coverage and I pray that with cameras rolling, no one will attempt to take down the Holy Father. This is a very dangerous trip, IMHO.

[mockingbyrd]

"pay a visit to Hagia Sophia"

and take it back!!!!!

I hope when Christ comes again, He makes a quick stop and takes back every church stolen from Him.

[JoeFromSidney]

When I visited Turkey last month, we heard Mass at the Cathedral in Istanbul. The church was being prepared for the Pope's visit, including cleaning and polishing a huge statue of Benedict XV that stands in the courtyard.

One of the Masses we heard was said by a visiting Bishop from Baltimore who was there as part of the preparations for the Pope's visit.

[TaxachusettsMan]

Ah, DTA makes another appearance on the board!

Keeping the Hate Alive!

I suppose the "Roman Catholic Crusaders" were led by your hated Croatian Franciscans on horses provided by your other frequent target, American Jews.

What a life.

[DTA]

Your sarcasm will not change the historical facts.

When the Roman Catholic Crusaders attacked the port of Zara on the Adriatic coast at the beginning of the Fourth Crusade and pillaged Roman Catholic churches in the city, the Pope was furious and threatened to excommunicate all of them.

However, when the Crusaders pillaged, looted and burned Constantinople, killing thousands of Christians in the process, there was no reaction from the Pope.

The proceeds of the crime were taken to Venice to adorn Chrches there and were never returned.

This issue is not settled yet.

Your fraudulent accusation that my target on the FR are American Jews is a cheap shot. I guess you do this to tar me as a Nazi or racist.

A quick search of my FR posts will expose this claim as a blatant lie. I attack LIBERAL JEWISH AMERICANS, not American Jews and there is a huge difference. I attack them because of what they speak and do, not because what they are genetically.

Only someone who hate Jews as a people will not understand the difference.

[Antoninus]

I heard that's what happened to Narses.

Noooooo. Just a couple of pedophile bishops...

[Antoninus]

Hagia Sophia was built by the emperor Justinian I in 537, upon the ruins of another church built by Constantine the Great.

Actually, the present Hagia Sophia is actually the *third* one. The Constantinian church was largely destroyed and rebuilt during the 5th century, during the reign of Theodosius II, I think. This second church was destroyed during the Nika Rebellion of 532 when a rampaging mob of factionists burned a sizable portion of the city--an event that rivaled the sack of 1204 in terms of the damage done to the artistic and architectural heritage of the Mediterranean world. Fortunately, Justinian used the aftermath of the destruction to do some urban renewal--including the construction of the present monumental Hagia Sophia.

[TaxachusettsMan]

I'm hardly defending the Crusades or what SOME Catholics - in all ranks of the Church - have done wrongly and sinfully over the centuries.

Indeed, I believe Pope John Paul II spent quite a bit of time, during the Jubilee Year - to the consternation of not a few Roman Catholics and the scorn of others - offering formal apologies and making acts of contrition and proclamations of repentance.

Now fast-forward seven centuries to the complicity (and at times worse) of SOME Orthodox - in all ranks of the Orthodox Church - during Stalin's attempted liquidation of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the martyrdom of most of its hierarchy and scores of its clergy and religious - not to mention the persecution of its laity.

Have there been any acts of contrition - comparable to those of Pope John Paul II - on the part of the Orthodox hierarchy - for any complicity or participation in Stalin's activity - or even for their lack of courage in standing up for the Ukrainian Catholics or refusing Stalin's orders, yes even in the face of certain retaliation by Stalin?

Listen to the crickets!

Finally, anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism, sir or madam. On that score, your past posts speak for themselves. I'll leave it to others to sort out your very-Latin-rite scholastic hair-splitting. I'm not buying it.

[Antoninus]

However, when the Crusaders pillaged, looted and burned Constantinople, killing thousands of Christians in the process, there was no reaction from the Pope.

I guess excommunicating the Venetians counts as "no reaction" in your mind?