Permission to Pray in Turkey

Ground-breaking permission for Christians to pray in the ancient Church of St. Paul in Tarsus may be extended indefinitely.

Authorities in Turkey granted a special license for Mass and other services to be held in the sixth-century Church during the recent Year of Saint Paul. Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians, Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, told how new developments mean Christians will continue to hold services in the building, albeit on a provisional basis.

Previously the Church was designated as a museum – having been seized by the government in 1943 – and Christian celebrations were only allowed under strict conditions. Mass-goers were required to pay the museum entry fee. Bishop Padovese said: “I am confident that the Church in Tarsus could soon change from being a museum to a center of spiritual pilgrimage.”

The city of Tarsus received record numbers of Christian pilgrims during the Year of Saint Paul, which ran from June 2008 to 2009. According to the bishop 416 groups of pilgrims from up to 30 countries visited the birth place of the Apostle during the Pauline year. Bishop Padovese told ACN that, “For the first time Turkish Muslims have witnessed Christians not as tourists but as praying pilgrims.”

The bishop added that the pilgrims’ devotion made a lasting impression on the Turkish people. He said, “It has become clear that St Paul will be venerated in Tarsus and that his birthplace will not just be regarded as museum by Christians.”

The difficulties concerning services in the Church of St. Paul were part of bigger struggles facing the Christian minority in Turkey. Turkey’s 500,000 Christians, who make up less than 1 percent of the population, frequently suffer discrimination and harassment – a problem made worse by their religion being stated on their identity cards.

Bishop Padovese called on Christians in Europe to continue to press for greater religious freedom in the country. He told ACN, “In Turkey more can often be achieved from the outside than from the inside.” Calls for restrictions on Christian worship to be lifted have been made by international figures such as Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne. Bishop Padovese continued by saying, “A certain amount of public pressure is helpful, but only if it originates from love for Turkey and a genuine wish that religious freedom should grow in the country.”

The bishop said that the future of Christians in the country will not be certain until they are able to open and run seminaries. “In the long term it must be possible in Turkey, as elsewhere, for priests to train in their own country,” he said.

The final decision whether services will continue in the Church of St. Paul lies with the local authorities in Tarsus itself, who can make the current provisional permission for ongoing services definite.

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