"This visit did not appear to be an easy one in a number of ways," said the pope, "[but] God was there right from the start, and that made it possible to bring the journey to a happy conclusion." A crucial element in this "happy conclusion" — besides his meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch, other Christian leaders and the Chief Rabbi — was, of course, the pope reaching out to Islam. "I ... had the opportunity to express again my sentiments of esteem toward Muslims and Islamic civilization," he said. "At the same time, I was able to insist upon the importance of joint Christian and Muslim action on behalf of human rights — for life, peace and justice."

The pontiff also stressed on his historic visit to the Blue Mosque of Istanbul, that it is "a work of divine Providence." As the second Vicar of Christ in history to visit a mosque, he also noted that he was the first one to pray in there. "Pausing for a few moments of recollection in that place of prayer," Benedict recalled, saying: "I turned to the one Lord of heaven and earth, the merciful Father of all humanity. May all believers recognize his creatures and bear witness to true brotherhood."

These are careful and balanced gestures to Islam. The language is still distinctly Christian — "Father" is a Christian, not Islamic, reference to God — but it is constructive. In this regard, the pope would probably agree with Dr. Ali Bardakoğlu, the head of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs, that religions should be loyal to their own traditions but open to dialogue with each other.

Those who might have a harder time in welcoming the pope's remarks are Turkey's secularists. While talking about this "emblematic country in regard to the great challenge at hand today at the worldwide level," the pontiff expressively suggested:

"On the one hand, we must rediscover the reality of God and the public relevance of religious faith; on the other, we must ensure that the expression of this faith be free, exempt from fundamentalist distortions and capable of firmly repudiating every form of violence."

In other words, the pope criticized both secular fundamentalism, which aims to destroy the whole "public relevance" of God, and religious fundamentalism, which is prone to use coercion and violence to impose its beliefs on others.

The "public relevance" of religion is not welcomed by the Turkish state, to be sure. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer recently, and quite controversially, had announced that the state could interfere in society in order to prevent the flourishing of religious belief. Moreover, the pope emphasized that "the state must guarantee the practical freedom of worship for the citizen and for religious communities," which is again an anathema to Turkey's self-styled secularism. The Turkish Republic respects "individual conscience," but religious communities of all sorts have serious trouble when it comes to organizing and acting freely in society. (Some of them, like the Sufi orders, are banned, and Christian communities have problems with establishing new places of worship or being recognized by the state in the way they define themselves.)

The concluding sentences of the pope's speech would appeal to all Turks, though. He expressed his thankfulness quite warmly:

"Dear brothers and sisters, I have returned here, to the Vatican, with a heart full of gratitude toward God and with sentiments of sincere affection and esteem for the people of the beloved Turkish nation, among whom I felt myself welcomed and understood. The kindness and cordiality they surrounded me with, in spite of the inevitable difficulties that my visit brought to the normal activities of daily life, remain with me as a lively recollection that urges me to prayer. May the almighty and merciful God help the Turkish people, their leaders and the representatives of the various religions to build together a future of peace, so that Turkey may be a 'bridge' of friendship and of fraternal cooperation between the East and the West."