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Turkey Not 'Hostile' to Christians, Constantinople Patriarch Says

On Friday, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I told AFP that Turkey is not a hostile environment for Christians, saying `It is simplistic to see adversaries everywhere and to imagine the pope's visit as taking sides in a hostile environment.`
Years of church ruptures have left the Ecumenical Patriarchate strained after the 2018 Moscow Patriarchate break and Turkey's Christian minority declined to about 100,000 in a population of 86 million.
The patriarch stressed dialogue, saying living in Muslim-majority Turkey sustains open dialogue and that unity makes the Ecumenical Patriarchate more credible facing challenges.
Bartholomew appealed directly to Russia's spiritual leaders, saying they should not follow inhumane political interests or condone bloodshed in Ukraine, urging moral independence from state policy.
After arriving in Ankara on Thursday, the pope said Turkey is a 'crossroads of sensibilities' richer for its internal diversity, and Bartholomew called Leo XIV's visit amid global conflict especially significant this year.

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Turkey not 'hostile' to Christians, Constantinople patriarch says

ISTANBUL - Muslim-majority Turkey, which is hosting Pope Leo XIV on his first overseas trip as pontiff, is not "a hostile environment" for Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople told AFP in an interview.

4 hours ago·Bangkok, Thailand

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Turkey not 'hostile' to Christians, Constantinople patriarch says

Muslim-majority Turkey, which is hosting Pope Leo XIV on his first overseas trip as pontiff, is not "a hostile environment" for Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople told AFP in an interview.

4 hours ago

Read Full Article