Pope Francis embarks on one of the most delicate missions of his 18-month-old papacy on Friday, when he is expected to wrestle with the problems of Christian persecution in the Muslim world and tackle relations with Islam in a time of spreading jihadism during his visit to Turkey.
As if that were not enough, he is also expected to deal with the millenium-old schism between Catholicism and Orthodoxy that centred on the city that is now Istanbul.
The fourth pope to visit Turkey, Francis will seek to emphasise his commitment to dialogue with Muslims and other Christians at a time of increased violence against Christian minorities in the region.
He is to make what his spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, described as a very important speech on Muslim-Christian relations on Friday. » | Constanze Letsch in Istanbul, John Hooper in Rome and agencies | Thursday, November 27, 2014
