Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday that it was important for Christians and Muslims to work together to achieve peace in Turkey.He made the remarks during a visit to the Vatican by bishops from the Episcopal Conference of Turkey.
"The Christian community in your country, lives in a nation governed by a constitution that affirms the lay nature of the state, but where the majority of the population is Muslim," said Pope Benedict.
"For this reason it is very important for Christians and Muslims to work together to promote humanity, life, peace and justice, The distinction between the civil and the religious sphere is clearly a value that deserves to be protected."
Benedict also referred to the controversial murder of Italian priest Andrea Santoro who was shot dead by a 15-year-old youth in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon in February 2006.
The pope expressed his wish for Christian pilgrims to be allowed 'easier' access to places of worship and launched what seemed to be an appeal to the Turkish government to recognise the juridical status of the Catholic Church and the recognition of property.
"My wish is that they (Christian pilgrims) may find easier access to those places which are so significant for the Christian faith and to liturgical celebrations," he said.
It is up to the state to provide effective guarantees that all citizens and all religious communities may enjoy freedom of worship and religion, making any violence against believers, whatever their religion may be, unacceptable," he said.
"In this context I am well aware of your desire and readiness to open a sincere dialogue with the authorities in order to find a solution...such as recognition for the juridical status of the Catholic Church and her property," he said.
There were at least two other attacks on Catholic priests in Turkey in 2006.
In July 2006 a French Roman Catholic priest Father Pierre Brunissen, 74 , was stabbed by a knife-carrying attacker in the Turkish Black Sea port of Samsun.
Brunissen was stabbed in the hip and leg and rushed to hospital, but a church official said his condition was not life-threatening.
A Slovenian priest was also grabbed by the throat, thrown into a garden and received death threats during an attack in the port of Izmir the same year.
Turkey is now Europe's sixth-largest economy and a serious regional power. The country, which is predominantly Muslim, appears to be at pains to promote recent democratic reforms while playing down a rise in local nationalism.
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(Source: AKI)