Tensions, tight security: Papal visits to Turkey have parallels

Published: 2006-11-27

ANKARA, Turkey (CNS) -- The scenario was oddly familiar. The pope was making his first visit to a Muslim country, and the climate in Turkey was anything but festive. Against a backdrop of rising Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey and upheaval in the Muslim world, the Turkish government was less than happy about the visit and was keeping the diplomatic side of the trip very low-key. Threats against the pope's life were taken seriously, and authorities mobilized thousands of heavily armed policemen in Ankara and Istanbul, where the pope would hold his main events. Among the minority Christian community in Turkey, leaders were hoping the pope would say a word on behalf of their struggle for religious rights in a theoretically secular state. Asked on the plane to Turkey why he was traveling in light of the apparent risks and general Muslim unease, the pope cited the trip's ecumenical importance and added: "Love is stronger than danger." This was not, however, Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. It was Pope John Paul II in 1979. The two papal trips have some instructive parallels -- and a few key differences.

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