From CWN:
As a November 30 press conference in Ankara, the spokesman for Turkey’s foreign-affairs ministry asked Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) to refrain from using the title “Ecumenical Patriarch” in reference to the Orthodox prelate Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
The ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, explained to reporters that the term “ecumenical,” implying a universal role in Church leadership. That implication would violate the principles of secularism that inform the Turkish republic, he argued.
My only question is, was that statement supposed to make sense or was that just more nonsense equivalence between “secularism” and “only Muslim”? Or does that, perhaps, mean that he also intends to strip the title of Imam from every leader in the Muslim community since, with their lack of formal hierarchy any “leader” can become considered universal. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.
