Saturday, July 09, 2005
Hot ecumenical visit!
Vatican, Jul. 07 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) may travel to Istanbul for an ecumenical summit with Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who spoke privately with the Pontiff on July 7, revealed that possibility to reporters after his visit to the Vatican. Ahern-- who had spoken with the Pope about the possibility of traveling to Ireland-- disclosed that the Holy Father had discussed pending plans for two trips abroad: his visit to Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day festivities in August; and a possible trip to Turkey later.
Ahern said that Pope Benedict had mentioned two previous occasions when Roman Pontiffs had traveled abroad to meet with Orthodox leaders: the historic encounter between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem in 1963, and the trip by Pope John Paul II (bio - news) in 1979, in the early months of his pontificate, to meet with Patriarch Dimitrios I in Istanbul.
Patriarch Bartholomew I-- who is recognized as the "first among equals" in the leadership of the Orthodox world-- has traveled to Rome on several occasions. His most recent visit came in the context of another dramatic ecumenical gesture in November 2004, when Pope John Paul II turned over the relics of Sts. John Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzen to the Ecumenical Patriarch. The relics of those saints-- both doctors of the Church, and predecessors to Patriarch Bartholomew as bishops of Constantinople-- had been held by the Vatican for centuries.
Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who spoke privately with the Pontiff on July 7, revealed that possibility to reporters after his visit to the Vatican. Ahern-- who had spoken with the Pope about the possibility of traveling to Ireland-- disclosed that the Holy Father had discussed pending plans for two trips abroad: his visit to Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day festivities in August; and a possible trip to Turkey later.
Ahern said that Pope Benedict had mentioned two previous occasions when Roman Pontiffs had traveled abroad to meet with Orthodox leaders: the historic encounter between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem in 1963, and the trip by Pope John Paul II (bio - news) in 1979, in the early months of his pontificate, to meet with Patriarch Dimitrios I in Istanbul.
Patriarch Bartholomew I-- who is recognized as the "first among equals" in the leadership of the Orthodox world-- has traveled to Rome on several occasions. His most recent visit came in the context of another dramatic ecumenical gesture in November 2004, when Pope John Paul II turned over the relics of Sts. John Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzen to the Ecumenical Patriarch. The relics of those saints-- both doctors of the Church, and predecessors to Patriarch Bartholomew as bishops of Constantinople-- had been held by the Vatican for centuries.
