Pope, Orthodox patriarch pray together, pledge new push for dialogue

Published: 2004-06-29

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Praying together at a liturgy in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II and Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople pledged new efforts to move ecumenical dialogue past a series of lingering obstacles. At a Mass marking the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter's Square June 29, the two leaders professed the faith together and shared a sermon before some 15,000 people. The pope declared that "we are destined not for separation but for communion," and he called for intensification of ecumenical activity among all Christian churches. Patriarch Bartholomew said untiring efforts were needed to eliminate the remaining impediments to full unity, but he voiced the hope that such unity might be achieved "in the near future." His phrase drew sustained applause, although the patriarch added that it might turn out to be a "distant future" instead. During the two-and-a-half-hour liturgy, the pope handed palliums to 44 archbishops from around the world, including four from the United States. The circular woolen cloth has been a symbol of an archbishop's communion with the papacy since the church's early centuries, well before the Catholic-Orthodox split in 1054.

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