Pope hopes to visit Türkiye for anniversary of Council of Nicea
By Christopher Wells
Pope Francis expressed his desire to visit the area of Nicaea in 2025 to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council.
“It is a trip I wholeheartedly desire to make,” the Pope said on Friday morning, as he greeted a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which is in Rome for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, the founders of the Church in Rome.
The customary visit is reciprocated by a delegation from the Catholic Church to Istanbul on the feast of St. Andrew, who tradition holds founded the Church at Constantinople.
The joy of fraternal encounter
In his address to the delegation, the Holy Father welcomed the opportunity “to experience the joy of fraternal encounter” and to bear witness both to the “profound bonds” that unite the two Churches and to the “firm resolve to progress together” towards the restoration of unity between them.
Pope Francis highlighted in particular his numerous meetings with the current Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, especially their encounter in Jerusalem in 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting between Pope St Paul VI and Athenagoras I.
Emphasizing the commitment to “journeying together” towards full unity, the Pope reaffirmed “that dialogue between our Churches poses no risk to the integrity of the faith; rather, it is a necessity arising from our fidelity to the Lord and leading us to the whole truth through an exchange of gifts and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”
Prayers for peace
The Pope recalled, too, the peace ceremony in Vatican Gardens, which took place shortly after the meeting in Jerusalem. Together, Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed representatives of Israel and Palestine “in order to invoke peace in the Holy Land, in the Middle East, and throughout the world.”
“Present events have shown us the necessity and urgency of praying together for peace,” the Pope said, “so that the war may end, the leaders of nations and the parties in conflict may rediscover the path to concord, and all parties come to recognize one another as brothers and sisters.”
He noted that this invocation for peace is extended to all conflicts, especially the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The way of love, reconciliation, and mercy
The need for hope in the world, at “a time when so many men and women are prisoners of fear for the future,” suggested the motto for the upcoming Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope.”
The Pope invited the Eastern Orthodox Churches to “accompany and support” the upcoming Holy Year with their prayers, “so that abundant spiritual fruits may not be lacking.”
Pope Francis concluded his address with prayer that “the Lord might grant that we may continue to walk on the path that He points out to us, which is always the way of love, reconciliation, and mercy.”
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