Faith Matters
The Church Program
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The Apostle Paul and His Successors in the Early Church
The Apostle Paul is thought to have been born 2000 years ago. To commemorate the occasion, Pope Benedict XVI has declared a worldwide "Pauline Year", set to begin on June 28th, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul – their feast day. Celebrations are planned all over the world, including one in Tarsus, the designated birthplace of Paul, among other observances in Turkey. The late Pope John Paul II once described Turkey as "a holy land of the primitive church". Just as Palestine is regarded as the Holy Land of Jesus Christ, Turkey has acquired the epithet "Land of Catholic Church". In Antioch, the modern-day Antakya, the followers of Jesus were for the first time called Christians, as recorded by Luke the Evangelist in the Acts of the Apostles. The Jewish community there became the focal point of the primordial Christian congregation out of which the early church was born – the church that has since grown into a major world religion. Antioch was the starting point for Paul's three missionary journeys with Barnabas.
And how do the heirs of the Apostle live in the Muslim Turkey of today? Faith Matters visits the Catholic Bishop of Anatolia, Luigi Padovese, as well as the pastor of the German-speaking St. Paul Congregation in Istanbul. What is their daily routine? What kind of restrictions or even aggression do they encounter? How does the example of St. Paul influence their lives in the modern world? This feature report follows in the many paths of the Apostle to the Gentiles in Asia Minor. It paints a vivid picture of the man who spread the gospels throughout the known world.
