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"The presence of Premier Erdogan at the ceremony would be meaningful and much appreciated. His participation would further underline the importance of this Year. We are waiting for an answer". Those words (today visible at agensir.it) were told SIR Europe by Msgr. Luigi Padovese, president of the Turkish bishops, while speaking about the next opening of the Pauline Year in Tarsus, on 22nd June, in the presence of Card. Walter Kasper, president of the Papal Council for the promotion of Christian unity. "The Pauline Year will confirm the importance of this land for all Christians, as well as for Turkish Muslims". The bimillenary of the Apostle, according to the bishop, "will also be precious for getting in touch again with those Christian roots uniting the ecclesial communities in Europe and also outside". On speaking about the opening, Msgr. Padovese pointed out that "it will be an ecumenical ceremony: the greetings by Card. Kasper will be followed by a prayer with the representatives of all confessions and rites which are present in Turkey, and by the reading of a message by ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I". Finally, the big flow of arriving pilgrims reproposes the necessity to have a church in Tarsus: "We hope that the state authorities will concede us a church; the pilgrims coming to visit and venerate the Apostle must do that in a museum and that is quite strange. Praying in a church is not a grace but a right".