The Ecumenical Patriarch visits Rome
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is visiting the capital of Italy, Rome, was joined by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Grace Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, as well as with other religious leaders, at the Ecumenical prayer service, which took place on Saturday afternoon, 30 September 2023, in St. Peter’s Square, in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica.
The Ecumenical prayer service, organised by the French Monastic Community of Taizé and attended by thirty thousand young people, was held on the occasion of the upcoming 16th Regular Synod of Roman Catholic Bishops, which will last throughout October, with the theme: “Towards a Synodical Church: communion, participation, mission”.
The proceedings of the Synod will be monitored, on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, by His Eminence Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, Orthodox Co-President of the International Joint Commission on Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.
Early in the morning of the same day, in a particularly cordial and fraternal atmosphere, the Ecumenical Patriarch had a private meeting with the Pope of Rome, and immediately afterwards he was present in St. Peter’s Square at the official ceremony of installation by the Primate of the Roman Catholic Church of twenty-one new Cardinals.
At noon, His All-Holiness attended a meal hosted in his honour by the Ambassador of the Turkish Republic to the Vatican, Mr. Ufuk Ulutaş.
The Ecumenical Patriarch arrived in Rome on Friday evening, 29 September 2023, coming from Vienna and accompanied by the Grand Ecclesiarch Archimandrite Aetios, Director of the Special Patriarchal Office. At the Rome airport, His All-Holiness was received by His Eminence Metropolitan Polykarpos of Italy, who then joined the Patriarchal Entourage together with the Archon of the Great and Holy Church of Christ Mr. Stylianos Efstratiadis, cardiologist, from America, Archimandrite Andreas Palmieri, Undersecretary of the Commission for the Promotion of Christian Unity, and the Ambassador of Greece to the Vatican, Ms. Aikaterini-Katia Georgiou.
Earlier, at the Vienna airport, His All-Holiness was farewelled by His Eminence Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria and Exarch of Hungary, and Mr. Cem Ertay, Counsellor of the Turkish Embassy in Austria.
