DELEGATION OF HOLY SEE TAKES PART IN FEAST DAY OF ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

 

Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity

Within the framework of the traditional exchange of delegations for the respective feasts of their patron saints, on 29 June in Rome for the celebration of Saints Peter and Paul, and on 30 November in Istanbul for the celebration of Saint Andrew, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Emeritus Prefect of Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, led the delegation of the Holy See for the feast of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Cardinal was accompanied by Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, Under‒Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. The Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey, Archbishop Marek Solczyński, joined the delegation in Istanbul.

The Holy See’s delegation took part in the solemn Divine Liturgy presided over by the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew, in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George at the Phanar, meeting later with the Ecumenical Patriarch and engaging also in conversations with the Synodal Commission responsible for relations with the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Sandri gave the Ecumenical Patriarch a personally signed message from the Holy Father, which he read publicly at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy.