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Pope salutes Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople on feast day
CWNews.com - Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message to the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, saluting him for “your wise efforts for the good of Orthodoxy and for the promotion of Christian values in many international contexts.”
The Pope’s message to the world’s leading Orthodox prelate was hand-delivered on November 30 by Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. Cardinal Koch led a Vatican delegation joining the Orthodox Patriarch for the celebration of the feast of St. Andrew, the patron of Constantinople.
Each year on November 30 the Holy See sends representatives to attend the Divine Liturgy at the patriarchal church in Phanar, just as the Ecumenical Patriarch sends his own representatives to Rome for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. In 2006, Pope Benedict himself timed his visit to Turkey for the feast of St. Andrew.
In his message to Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Benedict said that “we must continue along the path toward full communion, showing that we have already united our strengths for a shared witness of the Gospel before the people of our time.”
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