Ecumenical Patriarch in Munich to receive two Bavarian awards

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is in Munich, Germany, to receive two Bavarian awards.

For the first time, two Roman Catholic Institutions in Bavaria, the Catholic Academy of Bavaria and the Benedictine Monastery of Niederaltaich, will jointly present this year’s awards to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, for his contribution to Ecumenical Dialogue, that is, to the rapprochement of Christian Churches.

The award ceremony will take place today, Friday, 6 June 2025, at the Catholic Academy of Bavaria.

The President of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, will deliver the commendation of the honouree, followed by His Eminence Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich. The Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, Minister of State Dr. Florian Herrmann, will also deliver a speech.

The announcement of the award states, among other things, that “Bartholomew I is one of the most devoted supporters of genuine ecumenical cooperation within Orthodoxy. Anti-Western or anti-ecumenical sentiments are foreign to him. Such a presence of Orthodoxy in the global ecumenical movement also enriches ecumenical activity within the West.”

Source: fosfanariou.gr