Rome, Nov. 24 (CWNews.com) - The gradual disappearance of Christians from Turkey seems to have ended, according to prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.
 
 Speaking on Vatican Radio a few days before Pope Benedict XVI begins his visit to Turkey, Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud said that the number of Christians remaining there is holding steady at about 30,000.
 
 Turkey, a "cradle of Christianity," remains an important site for "fraternal dialogue between religions and cultures," the cardinal said. He added that the Catholic community in the predominantly Muslim country is itself diverse.
 
 There are three Latin-rite bishops in Turkey's episcopal confenference, along with 2 Armenian Catholic prelates, and 2 patriarchal vicars: one Syrian Catholic and the other Chaldean Catholic.
 
  Maronite and Byzantine Catholics are also represented, he added. Turkish Catholicism, Cardinal Dauoud continued, is known for a special historic devotion to the Mother of God, the apostolic tradition, and the fathers of the early Church.
 
  He recalled that the country had been the site of some important early councils, such as the councils of Nicea (in 325 and 787), Constantinople (381, 553, 680, and 870), Ephesus (431), and Chalcedon (451).
 
 Turkey, the cardinal concluded, is "a privileged place for the implantation of Christianity." During the early years of the Church, the county say "the flowering of theologies and of rites," giving the land an unusually rich tradition of Christianity that endures to this day.
 
 Cardinal Daoud will be a member of the delegation traveling to Turkey with the Holy Father, along with four other cardinals: Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State; Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity; Paul Poupard, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture; and Roger Etchegaray, a retired Vatican official who has frequently served as a special representative of the Holy See in delicate diplomatic circumstances.