The Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I -- who attended last week the Mass elevating Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy as Pope Francis -- has expressed his belief that the reunification of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches after 1,000 years of separation is achievable. The Great Schism of 1054 split the Christian Church in two, and has been a source of controversy and ticklish diplomacy and ecclesiology ever since, the Spero Forum website reports today (March 29, 2013).
Speaking at a meeting at the University of Kadir Has in Istanbul, Bartholomew said he believed "there is a possibility for the next generations to see the churches of the East and West reunited." He continued, "This will probably not happen during my life."
Bartholomew, 73, has been the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Church since 1991, and last week became the first patriarch of Constantinople to be present at the inauguration of a new pontificate since 1054.
Speaking about the new pontiff, Bartholomew said that he "seems very different" from his predecessors and that he "has the ability" to reform the Vatican. Bartholomew also said that he invited the new pope to visit Fener, the Greek Orthodox patriarchate, in Istanbul.
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