Pope reinforces his commitment to Christian unity by leaving Turkey

– Cindy Wooden, Istanbul, Turkey, CNS

As he did throughout his visit, Pope Leo XIV spent his last morning in the country reaffirming the Catholic Church's commitment to the pursuit of Christian unity. This pursuit of full communion among Christians, he said shortly before leaving Turkey, “is one of the priorities of the Catholic Church,» and «of my ministry as Bishop of Rome.».

The key symbol of this was the Pope's presence at the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on November 30, the feast day of St. Andrew, patron saint of the patriarchate.

For decades, popes and patriarchs have sent delegations to each other's patron saint celebrations. The Vatican's celebration of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul on June 29 and the patriarchate's celebration of the feast of St. Andrew on November 30.

Saint Peter and Saint Andrew were brothers and were the first of the 12 Apostles to be called by Jesus.

Blessing with Patriarch Bartholomew I

After the liturgy, the Pope and the Patriarch went to a balcony of the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George, where they jointly blessed the people gathered there.

Patriarch Bartholomew had been present at most of the events on Pope Leo's itinerary in Turkey. This included the meeting in Ankara on November 27 with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and government and civic officials. The patriarch presided over the commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea on November 28. And he attended the Mass celebrated by Pope Leo for the country's Catholic communities on November 29.

During the liturgy on November 30 at St. George's Patriarchal Cathedral, Pope Leo spoke of how for 60 years Catholics and Orthodox Christians have followed “a path of reconciliation, peace, and growing communion.”.

Committed to restoring full communion

Relations, which are increasingly cordial, have been “fostered by frequent contacts, fraternal encounters, and promising theological dialogue,” he said. “And today we are called even more to commit ourselves to the restoration of full communion.”.

Particularly important work has been done by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, the Pope said. But he noted that tensions between Orthodox churches have led some of them to suspend their participation.

The commission's last plenary session was held in Egypt in 2023. The most notable absence was that of the Russian Orthodox Church, which broke off relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018 when the patriarch recognized the autonomy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

One of the priorities of the Church and its ministry

Pope Leo XIV took advantage of his greeting in the Divine Liturgy to confirm that, «in continuity with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and my predecessors,” the search for full communion among Christians “is one of the priorities of the Catholic Church. In particular, it is one of the priorities of my ministry as Bishop of Rome, whose specific role in the universal Church is to be at the service of all, building and safeguarding communion and unity.”.

In his homily during the liturgy, Patriarch Bartholomew reaffirmed the Orthodox commitment to unity and called for common Christian efforts to protect the environment and end wars.

“We cannot be complicit in the bloodshed taking place in Ukraine and other parts of the world and remain silent in the face of the exodus of Christians from the cradle of Christianity» in the Holy Land, said the patriarch.

Pope Leo's day began with a visit to Archbishop Sahak II Mashalian, Armenian Apostolic Patriarch of Constantinople, at his cathedral in Istanbul.

Ecumenism is not absorption or domination, but sharing gifts.

The celebrations of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its declaration of faith, which formed the basis of the Nicene Creed, are an affirmation. «We must take advantage of this shared apostolic faith to recover the unity that existed in the early centuries between the Church of Rome and the ancient Eastern Churches,” said the Pope. .

“We must also draw inspiration from the experience of the early church to restore full communion,” he said. The goal is “a communion that does not involve absorption or domination. Rather, it is an exchange of the gifts that our churches receive from the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father and the edification of the body of Christ.”.

Christian witness of the Armenian people

Although Pope Leo XIII paid tribute to the “courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout history, often in tragic circumstances.” He did not elaborate on the politically sensitive issue of what many refer to as the ‘Armenian genocide.’ It occurred when approximately 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1918.

Mardik Evadian, a local businessman who was present during the Pope's visit, told reporters that for Armenians in Turkey, it is “not important” whether the Pope uses the word “genocide.”.

Armenians know what happened and remember their loved ones who were killed, he said, “but we live in this country; perhaps there were pogroms (massacres) in the past, but now are times of peace.”.