Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew to visit Rome in June, meet with pope

Published: 2004-05-07

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople will meet with Pope John Paul II in late June and attend the papal Mass for the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Vatican announced. The Vatican's May 6 announcement provided no details of the patriarch's visit, which will mark the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's historic 1964 meeting with Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras. Father Gregorios Stergiou, pastor of the Greek Orthodox community in Rome, said the patriarch, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox churches, would arrive in Rome June 29 and remain until July 2. On July 1, the priest said, Patriarch Bartholomew will dedicate the newly remodeled Church of St. Theodore on Rome's Palatine Hill.

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