ROME, SEPTEMBER 4 (ZENIT.org)

    Blessed Pope John XXIII, who convoked the Second Vatican Council "to open windows to the world," began very early to build bridges between nations. When Angelo Roncalli was apostolic delegate in Istanbul from 1935 to 1944, he built a real aqueduct over the Bosphorus, which served to open and join the East with Rome.

    During those years, many did not understand his work. However, in 1936 he wrote in his "Diary of a Soul": "A few years from now, they will surely thank me for it." Although a diplomat, Roncalli was above all a pastor and man of peace. Turkey has not forgotten him, and now even thanks their "friend the Pope." Istemihan Talay, Minister of Culture from Ankara, was in St. Peter's Square yesterday, leading the Turkish delegation, which was later received by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, and by Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

    "Roncalli lived in Istanbul for 10 years as a guest worthy of esteem, respected and admired, yet, unable to establish direct relations with the government of the country," his faithful secretary, Monsignor Loris Capovilla, wrote in the prologue to the biography, "Jean XXIII, Friend of the Turks," written by Rinaldo Mammara, and published for the occasion by the Turkish Ministry of Culture.

    Since that time, Roncalli maintained an extraordinary relation with Numan Rifat Menemencioglu, Turkish ambassador, who later shared his life in Paris and eventually visited him in Venice. "A year or so later, Menemencioglu congratulated Roncalli on his election to the Papacy, and anticipated the development of new and closer relations between the Turkish nation and the Vatican," Capovilla wrote. The Door to the East was indeed closer: on April 11, 1960, Nureddin Vergin, the first Turkish ambassador to the Vatican, presented his credentials to John XXIII.

    Following the beatification ceremony, Roncalli will also be commemorated in Istanbul, from December 8-11, at a congress, which will be attended by Monsignor Capovilla, and historian Andrea Riccardi, founder of the St. Egidio Community. The visit to the Vatican for yesterday's beatifications gave the Turkish Minister of Culture the opportunity to renew his invitation to John Paul II to visit his country. ZE00090406

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