Word: turkeys
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...much-anticipated voyage to Turkey that kicks off Tuesday, Benedict trades in his Pilgrim-in-Chief hat for his helmet as the Roman Catholic Church's Diplomat Maximus. It is largely new terrain for the 79-year-old Pontiff, a trained theologian who spent two decades in the Vatican working on doctrinal matters. The terrestrial exigencies of diplomacy will touch on both geopolitics and inter-religious relations during the four-day visit, as Turkey is both 98% Muslim and the historic home of a competing Eastern branch of Christianity. Everything, of course, will be amplified in the wake of Benedict...
...stated goal of the trip has always been to strengthen spiritual ties with Benedict's Orthodox counterpart in Istanbul, Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople, the "first among equals" of the patriarchs of the Eastern communion. There are also some 30,000 of Benedict's own flock living in Turkey to whom he will be preaching in a pair of Catholic masses...
...there is no hiding the fact that this is, above all, a diplomatic mission. A meeting Tuesday in Ankara with Turkey's head of religious affairs, Ali Bardakoglu, will be a chance for Benedict to try to definitively close the two-month fallout from his provocative remarks about Islam and the prophet Muhammad during a lecture at a German university. Many have tried to predict what the Pope might say about Islam, but most Vatican sources assure TIME that the Turkey trip will most definitely not be the occasion for a provocative follow-up to his University of Regensburg speech...
...more interesting discourses may very well be about relations with the Orthodox, common Christian identity, and, notably, about Turkey's aspirations to join the European Union. There were signs over the weekend that the Pope may be planning to tweak the position he'd set out while still Cardinal in 2004, when he'd suggested Turkey's history and culture put it "in permanent contrast to Europe." Several top Vatican officials have said in recent days that they would welcome Turkey into the E.U. if it met all the requirements that have been set out by Brussels. This opening...
...expect at least some form of public dissent. Sometimes, the choice of ground transportation can say as much about a papal trip as the homilies and handshakes. On his first four voyages, Benedict was able to wave to the passing crowds from his plexiglass-covered white Popemobile. In Turkey, he is expected be riding everywhere behind the black-mirrored windows of one of three identitical armored cars, much more a diplomat on a tense mission than a pilgrim on a celebratory journey...