Pope to meet Ecumenical Patriarch of Contsantinople

(06 Mar 08 - RV) The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, his Holiness, Bartholomew I is in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI will receive the Ecumenical Patriarch Thursday morning in the Vatican. Following their meeting they will hold a moment of prayer in the Urban VIII chapel of the apostolic palace.

Thursday afternoon, the Patriarch will visit Rome’s Pontifical Oriental Institute where he studied for a doctorate in Canon Law for five years during the 1960’s.

The Dean of the Faculty of Eastern Ecclesial Sciences at the Orientalis Jesuit Fr Edward Farrugia, says the visit is significant…

“Well of course we are immensely proud to have had the present Ecumenical Patriarch as a past student and he is certainly one of our most famous, if not our most famous alumnus and I think for us it’s a shot in the arm that such an important figure, who is the first primate of the Orthodox East, especially of the community of Constantinople comes to visit us. He certainly has moral authority as a figure who represents something, who represents a big history, a big church. Then I think that it is also significant because it happens at this time, when dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches who recognise themselves in this Constantinopolitan community is moving ahead, so we think that this is very providential. And I must say how moved he was when I brought him the invitation, and for us it cannot but be a blessing”.
 Throughout the current academic year, The Jesuit-run institute is marking the 90th anniversary of its foundation by Pope Benedict XV in 1917.