Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew attends service for the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, accompanied by the Great Ecclesiarch Archimandrite Aetios, Director of the Personal Patriarchal Office, on Wednesday afternoon, 19 March 2025, responding to a relevant invitation, went to the Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit in Harbiye, where they attended the Divine Liturgy celebrated for the 12th anniversary of the election of His Holiness Pope Francis of Rome.

The Divine Liturgy was also attended by His Beatitude the Armenian Patriarch in Turkey, Sahak Maşalyan, as well as representatives of other Christian communities in Constantinople, members of the Diplomatic Corps, and a multitude of Roman Catholic faithful.

In his address, His All-Holiness once again expressed his warm and heartfelt fraternal wishes for the speedy recovery of Pope Francis.

Elsewhere in his address, His All-Holiness referred to the mutual desire for a joint celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the convening of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, and indeed in a year that coincides with the celebration of Easter for all Christians on the same day. He pointed out, among other things, that the different way of calculating Easter undoubtedly prevents Christians from having a more resounding and credible voice in our fragmented world.

Photographs: Nikos Papachristou