Amid a week of heightened tension between the West and the Muslim world, the Vatican announced Thursday that Pope Benedict XVI will make his first trip to a predominantly Muslim country, visiting Turkey.
In a statement, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Benedict had accepted an invitation from Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to visit the country Nov. 28-30.
Word of Benedict’s visit came a day after the pope expressed hope that the murder of an Italian priest in Turkey would lead to greater interfaith dialogue.
The Vatican released a letter that the priest wrote to Benedict weeks before his murder asking the pontiff to visit his parish, in Trabzon, Turkey. “Your visit, however brief, would be a consolation and encouragement,” the Rev. Andrea Santoro wrote in the letter, dated Jan. 31.
Navarro-Valls provided no further details of the trip. But Benedict is expected to visit Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the Greek Orthodox leader, who is based in Istanbul.
Bartholomew, whose full religious authority is not recognized by Turkey, angered Turkish authorities by inviting Benedict to Istanbul in November 2005. The Turkish government effectively blocked the visit by inviting Benedict to visit this year.
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