TURKEY: CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL’S IN TARSUS. ANKARA’S AUTHORITIES ABOLISHED ENTRANCE TICKET

After the announcement, already mentioned to SIR (read) by mgr. Luigi Padovese, president of the Turkish Bishops Conference (Cet), that Ankara’s authorities abolished the obligation to book Mass in the church-museum of Saint Paul’s in Tarsus, the news that “pilgrims will no longer have to pay for a ticket” to enter it arrived today. According to a release from CET to SIR, this is the result of negotiations between mgr. Padovese and the Turkish authorities and “the policy of openness of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and the effective intervention of its ambassador to the Holy See, Kenan Gürsoy, who is sensitive to the problems of the Church in Turkey”.

© SIR - May 26 2010