(29 Feb 10 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of best wishes to Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew I ahead of his 70th birthday. Below we publish the text of
the papal telegram:
To His Holiness Bartholomaios I Archbishop of Constantinople Ecumenical
Patriarch
The happy occasion of your Seventieth Birthday offers me a welcome
opportunity to give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Giver
of every good gift, for the abundant blessings which he has bestowed upon Your Holiness,
and at the same time to convey my warm good wishes.
These fervent and fraternal
good wishes are accompanied by my prayers that our One Lord will sustain you with
his strength and grace as you carry out your high ministry of Pastor, Preacher of
the Gospel and Teacher of the spiritual life.
With pleasant memories of
our meetings, particularly my visit to the Phanar for the Feast of the Apostle Andrew,
Peter’s brother, I exchange with Your Holiness a holy embrace, while expressing my
prayerful confidence that the Spirit of God will continue to enlighten and guide our
path towards the full communion willed by Christ for all his disciples.