The Bishop of Rome was welcomed at the airport of this capital by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mehmet Cavusoglu.

After the welcome, the head of the Catholic Church placed a wreath at the Anitkabir Mausoleum, dedicated to the founder and first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The Sum Pontiff traveled to the Eurasian nation invited by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I.

Francis, the fourth Pope who visits the country, today will meet with Erdogan in his new palace in Ankara. He will also hold talks with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

According to the Holy See, this trip is very important, because Turkey has a strategic position in the area of conflicts in the Middle East.

The Holy Father will hold talks with the Catholic community in this country, whose population is mainly Muslim (99.8 percent), and with the highest authorities of the Turkish Department of Religious Affairs.

Before returning to the Vatican City, Francis will meet with fifty students from the Salesian Oratory in Istanbul.
In a message sent prior to his departure to the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, the Pope recalled that he will seek to strengthen the dialogue between cultures and unity among Christians.(KH)