Encyclical on environment ‘filled us with immense satisfaction,’ says Ecumenical Patriarch
June 29, 2015
In a message to Pope Francis issued in commemoration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople welcomed Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment.
“The celebration of the thronal feast of our Churches is a reminder, Your Holiness, of the very significant fact that, despite the regrettable interruption of full communion among us, both of our churches remain united in honoring the memory of our common saints, who comprise the stable foundation on which we are called to build full union inasmuch as the Church of Christ is essentially a communion of Saints,” the Ecumenical Patriarch wrote in his June 19 message, which the Holy See Press Office released on June 27.
“However, as Your Holiness has emphasized, our unity must be sought and edified not only in our common past, but also in the contemporary reality lived in the world, which invites us jointly to transmit to modern man the message of the Gospel about joy, hope and love,” he continued, stating that the encyclical Laudato Si’ “filled us with immense satisfaction, given that our most holy Church of Constantinople was the first in the Christian world to proclaim publicly the urgent need to protect the natural environment, which is deplorably threatened by human greed.”
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