Pope greets delegation from Ecumenical Patriarch
June 27, 2017
Pope Francis received a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on June 27, as is customary in the days around the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29), patrons of Rome.
“The exchange of delegations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople on their respective patronal feasts increases our desire for the full restoration of communion between Catholics and Orthodox, of which we already have a foretaste in fraternal encounter, shared prayer and common service to the Gospel,” the Pope said.
“In the first millennium, Christians of East and West shared in the same Eucharistic table, preserving together the same truths of faith while cultivating a variety of theological, spiritual and canonical traditions compatible with the teaching of the apostles and the ecumenical councils,” he continued. “That experience is a necessary point of reference and a source of inspiration for our efforts to restore full communion in our own day, a communion that must not be a bland uniformity.”
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