Leaders from Georgia's Greek Orthodox Church did not attend Pope Francis' mass at a stadium in Tbilisi today (October 1, 2016) and ordered its followers not to take part, the UPI website reports.
With just 2.5 percent of Georgia identifying as Roman Catholic, the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in the nation's capital filled less than 3,000 of its 27,000 seats for the pope's mass. Church leaders were expected to send delegates to the ceremony, but none of the Orthodox Church bishops attended.
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Orthodox rules kept the bishops away.
Pope Francis said in his homily, "We should work together. We should respect each other and pray together." The Pope heads to Azerbaijan on October 2, where his three-day tour of the Caucasus region will end.
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