Pope Francis Due In Turkey For Historic Visit

The papal visit to Turkey will be only the fourth in history Pope Francis will arrive in Turkey shortly for what is billed as a historic trip to help interfaith dialogue in the country. At the start of the three-day tour, he is set to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, who has dominated Turkish politics for 12 years. He then plans to visit Istanbul for a meeting with the head of the Orthodox Christian church. This is only the fourth visit by a pope to Muslim-majority Turkey. During his trip Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Istanbul's Sultan Ahmed mosque, the 17th-Century place of worship popularly known as the Blue Mosque. He is also due to sign a joint declaration with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians, on trying to bridge the divides between Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. Mark Lowen reports on the state of Christianity in Turkey ahead of the Pope's visit The visit comes at a time of heightened political sensitivity in the region. Turkey is now home to at least 1.6 million refugees from war-torn Syria, most of them living close to the border separating the two countries. According to the BBC's Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen, there is a humanitarian angle to Pope Francis's trip. Many expect him to touch on the plight of the region's refugees, he said. In an interview on the eve of his visit, the Pope made his feelings on the Syrian conflict known. He told an Israeli newspaper that the persecution of Christians in the region is "the worst" it has been since Christianity's earliest days. Although most of Turkey's 80 million citizens are Muslims, there are around 120,000 Christians in the country - once the centre of the Orthodox Christian world. Source:bbc