Turkey's Islamic Conservative Party, which won 2.5 per cent of the vote in the last national elections, has called for a massive public protest in Istanbul today to protest Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the country.

The Islamic party - which is not represented in parliament but is able to mobilise large crowds - considers the Pope an enemy. Leaders say that they hope that a million people will join in today's protest. Last week the group organised small protests against the papal visit in various sections of Istanbul, including the Hagia Sophia mosque. Party leaders have indicated, however, that they will not organise demonstrations during the Pope's visit.

These are some of the latest twists concerning the Pope's visit whose main objective has all along been to improve relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Church. During the last two decades our two churches have come so close together but are still too far apart and union has not been achieved. It was one of the unfulfilled dreams of John Paul II.

Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I originally issued an invitation for the Pope to visit Istanbul without consulting the Turkish government. The Patriarch's invitation was for a visit in 2005, but in an evident display of distaste over the lack of consultation - and over the Pope's previous statements questioning the Turkish bid for European Union membership - the Ankara government suggested that the visit should take place in 2006.

The government has taken a decidedly low-key approach to the papal visit, minimising publicity and announcing that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will not meet the Pope's plane when he arrives on Tuesday. Instead the President will receive the Pope during a courtesy call later in the day.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the mayor of Istanbul have already announced that they will not be meeting the Pope during his visit. Elections are on the horizon in Turkey, and political leaders may wish to avoid being photographed with the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Nonetheless, the Pope will meet Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, and Ali Bardakoglu, the government's religion minister and the highest Islamic authority in Turkey.

The Turkish daily Hurriyet said that the papal visit would not be recognised as a religious mission, since the Pontiff was invited by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The government is thus ignoring the previous invitation issued to the Pontiff by the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I. Hurriyet said that the government's position could cause a "diplomatic crisis" if the Vatican refused to accept the designation of the Pope's voyage as a visit by a head of state. As AsiaNews noted, that concern "does not seem to have any substance in reality," since the Vatican has accepted other papal trips that have been classified as visits by a head of state.

Patriarch Bartholomew quite naturally has his own agenda in the light of internal politics in the Orthodox Church. He also hopes that the visit will enable him to reinforce his role as the "first among equals" in the Orthodox world. This position has been tacitly questioned in recent years by the Patriarch of Moscow.

At the September meeting of the joint Orthodox-Catholic theological commission, representatives of the Constantinople and Moscow patriarchates clashed openly about the primacy of the Ecumenical Patriarch. Bartholomew hopes that all the media coverage of himself together with the Pope will enhance his status.

The Orthodox leadership is clearly hoping that the papal visit will call worldwide attention to the difficulties of the small Christian minority in Turkey, living under some duress in a country that is officially secular but in practice overwhelmingly Muslim.

On the other hand, Turkish authorities hope that the media coverage given to the visit will put Turkey in a positive light and will help enhance the country's image. They hope that such a visit will be a plus in their drive to enter the European Union. It could also transpire that the Pope's visit will continue in the healing process between Catholics and Muslims, something which is greatly needed after the recent controversies.

The Pope undoubtedly hopes that the visit will help in the inter-religious dialogue with both the Orthodox and the Muslims. But his hope has to be understood within the parameters that he clearly set, i.e. such dialogue should not compromise in any way one's own religious identify. The Pope clearly emphasised this point during a recent speech he made to pilgrims gathered on St Peter's Square in Rome.

He said that the Vatican II call to dialogue with other faiths must be "pursued with firm constancy". However, Pope Benedict continued by saying that dialogue should never cause Christians to neglect their duty "to recall, and to emphasise with adequate force, the main lines of our Christian identity". This calls for "strength, clarity, and courage" in bearing witness to the faith, he added.

The Pope cited the letter of St Jude putting the Christian community on guard against "ungodly persons who pervert the grace of God into licentiousness". Although today we "are no longer accustomed to use such polemical language," the Pope observed, the lesson is clearly a warning against those who introduce novelties in teaching, causing division within the Church.

The Pope is going to Turkey to help in the process of unification between the Church so long as this process is based on truth as well as love.