Religious Freedom...Or Else!
Pope makes final appeal in Turkey for freedom of religion.
A final appeal? To whom?
Istanbul, Dec 02: With a flight of doves freed into the air and a final appeal for freedom of religion, Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday prepared to conclude his eventful four-day trip to Turkey, his first to a Muslim land.
"You know well that the church wishes to impose nothing on anyone, and that she merely asks to live in freedom," the Pope said in his homily during the second and final mass of his trip at the cathedral of the holy spirit here.
"The church's mission is not to preserve power or to gain wealth; her mission is to offer Christ," he said, speaking in French.
In a final reference to relations between Turkey and Europe -- one of the major topics, as it turned out, of his trip here -- Benedict XVI said: "how can we fail to think of the various events which took place here and forged our common history?"
Benedict XVI released four doves as a symbol of peace into the air at the entrance of the Cathedral and once inside, met ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I, who hosted the Pope at a St. Andrew's Day orthodox mass here yesterday and ushered him to his pew.
Both men have made a priority of working for rapprochement between their respective churches, which have been estranged for nearly 10 centuries.
A smiling Benedict XVI was greeted at the gates of Istanbul's main catholic church by a group of children playing tambourines and chanting his name.
He was applauded several times as he walked into the Cathedral.
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At least the Eastern Orthodox have the right attitude. My feeling is much different regarding the attitude of the Muslim's "Overlordish" approach to the Pope's visit in Turkey. Where the Pope faced Mecca with them, I won't hold my breath to see them geneuflect before an altar anytime soon.
It has to be religious freedom for the world or...it will be Sharia Law. Now, for those who worry about the religious freedoms of the flying Imams and the Muslim Congressman remember the religious freedoms that the "religion of pieces" allows and imagine what America's future will be like if we keep "bending over" for them...kind of like the guy in this clip.
Labels: Flying Imans, Keith Ellison, Pope Benedict XVI, Saudi Arabia, Sharia Law, Turkey
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