Eastern Meets West from inside the Jerusalem: Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew
When Pope Francis matches which have Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew We out of Constantinople in the Jerusalem Get twenty five, the latest meeting usually mark the new 50th wedding of your own 1964 conference in the same set anywhere between Pope Paul VI and you can Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras away from Constantinople, the new spiritual leader of one’s Greek Orthodox Church.
That it fulfilling supplies the opportunity to set the new stage to have future affairs, as the East and West Church buildings have not been united since Leo IX occupied the brand new Sofa from Peter during the 1054.
No matter if East Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism have been separate to own years, there’s never been an official break between them. Throughout the 4th to your 11th century, the newest Eastern and Western Church buildings drifted farther apart, for various reasons, up until inside the 1054 a beneficial papal diplomatic objective in order to Constantinople clashed bitterly on the patriarch, ultimately causing shared excommunications.
Right from the start out-of Pope St. John XXIII’s pontificate (1958-1963), ecumenism was a primary consideration. John XXIII prior to got served consistently once the papal nuncio in order to heavily Eastern Orthodox Turkey and you may Bulgaria. At the beginning of 1959, the fresh Holy Dad while the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras We traded formal delegations, the first such as much more than just 400 many years. The fresh new Orthodox have been acceptance to send perceiver to your Second Vatican Council, that they did.
S. citizen, and his awesome skills in the usa most likely generated him open so you’re able to ecumenical relationships by the point he had been selected “ecumenical patriarch” (“along the entire world”) in 1948
Athenagoras (1886-1972) came to be of Albanian origins within the an integral part of Greece you to definitely then belonged on the Ottoman Kingdom (afterwards Poultry). (more…)