Leo XIV: “Catholics and Orthodox called to be peacemakers”

The Pope with Bartholomew I in the Divine Liturgy for St Andrew, patron saint of the Church of Constantinople. The Patriarch expresses ‘fervent gratitude’ for the papal visit. Prevost: caring together for ‘all humanity and the whole of creation’. This morning at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral: “Full dedication to the cause of unity”. The apostolic journey continues today in Lebanon.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - At 10:30 a.m. local time, Bartholomew I presided over the Divine Liturgy to commemorate St Andrew at the Patriarchal Church of St George in Istanbul. Pope Leo XIV was at his side. At the end, they appeared together on the balcony of the Patriarchate for a joint ecumenical blessing. On the feast day of the patron saint of the Church of Constantinople, which is linked to the tradition of exchanging delegations with the Church of Rome, as also happens on 29 June, the liturgical memorial of Saints Peter and Paul. This custom began following the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem on 6 January 1964.

In his homily, Bartholomew I expressed his ‘fervent gratitude’ for Leo XIV's visit to the ‘sacred centre of Orthodox Christianity’. ‘May our holy and great founders and patrons (the apostles Andrew and Peter, ed.) [...] intercede for us all before the One whom they faithfully served and preached “to the ends of the earth”.’ . The prayer of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is to receive inspiration from the ‘breadth of their ecclesial vision,’ as well as from the ‘determination of their apostolic mission.’ To ‘continue our common pilgrimage in search of Christian unity and to witness together so that the world may believe that “we have found the Messiah,”’ he continued.

Bartholomew I once again welcomed Pope Leo XIV, who today leaves Turkey for Lebanon. Provost of the Patriarchal Church of St George, he spoke at the end of the Turkish segment of his first apostolic journey, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. On St Andrew, who brought the Gospel to ancient Byzantium, he said: ‘His faith is ours: the same faith defined by the ecumenical councils and professed today by the Church.’ Despite the presence of ‘conflicts’ and “misunderstandings” between Christian churches, ‘we must not back down in our commitment to unity, and we cannot stop considering ourselves brothers and sisters in Christ and loving one another as such.’

Prevost recalled the gesture of Paul VI and Athenagoras I to remove mutual excommunications from the ‘memory of the Church.’ ‘This historic gesture of our venerable predecessors opened a path of reconciliation, peace and growing communion between Catholics and Orthodox,’ he commented. He recalled the many steps taken since then ‘at the ecclesiological and canonical level,’ which today invite us to continue on the path toward ‘full communion.’ He also recalled the common commitment to care for ‘all humanity and the entire creation,’ he said.

A commitment that aims above all at peace, ‘in this time of bloody conflicts and violence in places near and far.’ ‘Catholics and Orthodox Christians are called to be peacemakers,’ said Leo XIV. ‘Peace is sought through prayer, penance, contemplation, and that living relationship with the Lord that helps us discern the words, gestures, and actions to be taken,’ he explained. But the commitment also to address the ‘ecological crisis’. ‘Catholics and Orthodox Christians are called to work together to promote a new mentality in which everyone feels themselves to be guardians of the creation that God has entrusted to us,’ he added.

The Pope also recalled the challenge of ‘new technologies,’ especially in the field of communication: ‘Catholics and Orthodox must work together to promote their responsible use in the service of the integral development of people, and universal accessibility, so that these benefits are not reserved only for a small number of people and the interests of a privileged few.’

Pope Leo XIV, in the first appointment of the last day of his first apostolic journey to Turkey, visited the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Istanbul, the autonomous seat of the Church located in Etchmiadzin, 20 km west of the Armenian capital Yerevan. Here he met with the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Sahak II, following in the footsteps of his predecessors Paul VI and Benedict XVI, who met with Shenork I and Mesrob II. In his greetings, Provost shared his ‘deep joy’ at continuing this tradition. The greeting is for the entire Armenian Apostolic community and for the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, who visited the pontiff on 16 September 2025 at Villa Barberini, Castel Gandolfo.

The Pope's gratitude is ‘for the courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people over the centuries,’ which often took place ‘in tragic circumstances.’ Prevost recalled the links between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church. These were strengthened by Khoren I's visit to Paul VI in Rome after the Second Vatican Council in 1967 to ‘exchange with him the kiss of peace.’ . But also by the joint declaration signed by Montini and Vasken I ‘inviting their faithful to rediscover themselves as brothers and sisters in Christ with a view to unity’. Since then, dialogue between the two Churches ‘has flourished’.

On this occasion, the ‘common apostolic faith’, represented by the shared Nicene Creed, was also celebrated with the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Pope continued by saying that it is important to ‘draw on our common faith to recover the unity that existed in the early centuries between the Church of Rome and the ancient Eastern Churches’, with the aim of ‘restoring full communion’. ‘I hope that the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches will soon resume its fruitful work,’ added the pontiff.

Finally, Catholicos Nerses IV Shnorhali (1102-1173) was remembered. ‘He worked tirelessly to reconcile the Churches,’ Prevost recalled. ‘May the example of St. Nerses inspire us and his prayer sustain us on the path to full communion!’ The Pope, speaking to the Armenian Patriarch, assured him of his ‘full dedication to the holy cause of Christian unity.’