Pope Francis warns Turkey about polarization: “The future is at stake”

– Cindy Wooden, ANKARA, Turkey (CNS)

Pope Leo XIV began his first papal trip in Ankara (Turkey), speaking of dialogue, peace, and thanksgiving, referring both to the holiday and to his own gratitude. A few minutes later, he would warn about polarization and the future of humanity.

Addressing the President, other government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, and civic leaders, Pope Leo told them: “Today, more than ever, we need people who promote dialogue and practice it with firm will and patient determination.”

After World War II, he said, the world came together and formed the United Nations and other international and regional organizations committed to dialogue, cooperation, and conflict resolution.

“Conflict is growing globally”

“We are living in a phase marked by increased global conflict, fueled by prevailing strategies of economic and military power,” Pope Leo said. “This is leading to what Pope Francis called ‘a third world war fought in pieces.’”.

“We must not give in to this under any circumstances,” insisted the Pope. “The future of humanity is at stake. The energies and resources absorbed by this destructive dynamic are being diverted from the real challenges that the human family should be facing together today, namely peace, the fight against hunger and poverty, health and education, and the protection of creation.”.

In praise of tolerance and religious diversity

In a land where most people are Muslim, but the Constitution officially proclaims the nation to be secular, Pope Leo XIV praised both the tolerance of religious diversity and the encouragement given to people of all religions to practice their faith.

“In a society such as Turkey’s, where religion plays a visible role, it is essential to honor the dignity and freedom of all God’s children, men and women, compatriots and foreigners, poor and rich,” he said.

"Sons of God."

«We are all children of God, and this has personal, social, and political implications,» he said, including working for the common good and respecting all people.

Pope Francis, who visited Turkey in 2014, urged all believers in God to “feel the pain of others and listen to the cry of the poor and of the earth,” he said. “Thus, he encouraged us to compassionate action, which is a reflection of the one merciful and compassionate God” — as Muslims often repeat — and “slow to anger and rich in love,” as the Psalms say.

Defend social ties, family

Pope Leo XIV encouraged all the inhabitants of Turkey and all people of good will to defend social bonds, beginning with the family.

“People do not gain greater opportunities or happiness in an individualistic culture, nor by showing contempt for marriage or rejecting openness to life,» he said.

“Those who despise fundamental human bonds and do not learn to endure even their limitations and fragility,” he said, “become more easily intolerant and incapable of interacting with our complex world.”.

To the Turkish people: value your cultural and religious diversity

Pope Leo asked the Turkish people to value their diversity, both cultural and religious. He assured them that the country's Catholic community—some 35,000 people, or less than 11% of the population—wishes to contribute.

“Uniformity would be an impoverishment,” said the Pope. “In fact, a society is alive if it has plurality, because what makes it a civil society are the bridges that unite its members.”.

Unfortunately, he said, today “communities are increasingly polarized and torn apart by extreme positions that fragment them.”.

Ecumenical ceremony in Istanbul

The Pope then headed to the airport to fly to Istanbul, where tomorrow, Friday, a prayer meeting will take place with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, and pastoral workers. There will also be an ecumenical prayer service near the archaeological excavations of the ancient basilica of St. Neophytus in İznik, ancient Nicaea, where the first ecumenical council, in 325.