Pope Leo XIV urges full unity with Orthodox Churches and joint action on peace, ecology and technology during Divine Liturgy at Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Newsroom (01/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) On the 30th November 2025, In a landmark moment for Christian ecumenism, Pope Leo XIV on Sunday celebrated the feast of Saint Andrew the First-Called together with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul’s Phanar district, marking the culmination of his three-day apostolic visit to Türkiye.
The pontiff, the first pope to attend the patronal feast of the Ecumenical Patriarchate since the historic 1964 encounter between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, addressed a congregation that included more than 400 members of the Holy Synod, metropolitans, bishops, and representatives of Christian world communities.
In his carefully crafted address delivered immediately after the Divine Liturgy, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s irrevocable commitment to the restoration of full communion with the Orthodox Churches, describing it as “one of the priorities of my ministry as Bishop of Rome.”
Recalling the mutual lifting of the 1054 excommunications sixty-one years ago by Paul VI and Athenagoras, the Pope hailed the “path of reconciliation, peace and growing communion” that has since unfolded through regular contacts, fraternal meetings and theological dialogue.
He expressed particular gratitude to Patriarch Bartholomew and the Ecumenical Patriarchate for their steadfast support of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, while issuing a direct appeal for “all the autocephalous Orthodox Churches” to resume active participation in the process.
Beyond doctrinal convergence, Pope Leo XIV outlined three urgent contemporary challenges demanding common Catholic-Orthodox witness:
- Peacemaking amid “bloodstained conflict and violence” worldwide, insisting that authentic peace is primarily a divine gift received through prayer, penance and contemplation before being translated into concrete action.
- The ecological crisis, echoing Patriarch Bartholomew’s decades-long advocacy and calling for a shared “spiritual, personal and communal conversion” to safeguard creation.
- The ethical governance of new technologies, especially in communications, urging that they serve integral human development and remain universally accessible rather than benefiting only privileged elites.
Concluding with warm personal greetings in Greek (“Hrònia Pollà!”) and Latin (“Ad multos annos!”), the Pope entrusted the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the intercession of Saints Andrew, Peter and George, imparting his apostolic blessing to all present.
The visit, which also included joint prayer at the site of the First Ecumenical Council in ancient Nicaea (present-day İznik), has been widely interpreted as the most significant step toward visible unity between Rome and Constantinople since the Second Vatican Council.
While full Eucharistic communion remains a distant goal, observers note that the tone of fraternity and the explicit naming of shared priorities signal a new momentum in a dialogue that both leaders insist is guided by the Holy Spirit rather than merely human strategy.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
Related Images:
