Pope Benedict XVI pleas for the bringing together of Catholicism and Orthodoxy

In his third day visiting Turkey, a country with a Muslim majority, Pope Benedict XVI pled in Istanbul for the reuniting of Christianity, naming the divergences that separate the two major Christian rites, almost 1000 years since the Great Schism (1054), which he called "a scandal in the eyes of the entire world": "The divisions that separate the Christians are a scandal for the entire world", said the Pope at the end of a joint service together with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of more than 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

However, the Pope's visit is not free of contradictions. His statements allow for a large degree of "interpretation", especially since he claimed that Europe should return to its Christian roots; in light of Turkey's recent suspension of integration negotiations because of the problems with Cyprus, the Pope raises a very delicate issue.

Can and will the Church (Catholic and Orthodox) remain out of politics?

What do you think?

Iulia