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A library specialized in Saint Paul, with a Study Centre available to experts, religious, laymen and anybody intending to delve into the figure of the apostle of the peoples: this is the new "Saint Paul Cultural Centre", an initiative launched in the city of Antioch by the local Catholic community. The project, set up by the Franciscan community of Capuchins, has Italian roots: it was actually sponsored by the bishop of Padua, Msgr. Antonio Mattiazzo, and it was carried out thanks to the availability of premises and resources, which the Catholic Church devotes to Saints Peter and Paul in the city of Antioch on the Orontes River. The library will include books about the great Apostle, as well as books on Roman and Byzantine Antioch, and on the beginning of Christianity and the Church. Furthermore, there will be books on the Christianity/Islam relations, especially in the Turkish land. The project is starting during the Pauline Year and will develop and strengthen in future years. The Centre intends to become a point of reference for all the pilgrims going to Antioch, for the religious and laymen who intend to carry on intensive research on the story and spirituality of Saint Paul. During the Pauline Year, the Catholic Church in Turkey is noticing a remarkable increase in the number of pilgrimages, above all, to the "Pauline places" of Tarsus and Antioch.

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