(ZENIT News / Rome, 05.19.2025).- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met privately this monday 19 with Pope Leo XIV in the Apostolic Palace, just one day after the new pontiff formally began his ministry at the helm of the Catholic Church. While protocol framed the encounter, history and a shared vision gave it depth.
This was not merely a handshake between dignitaries. It was a renewed embrace between two ancient churches still walking the long and often fractured road toward unity. For Bartholomew, the longest-serving Ecumenical Patriarch in centuries and a tireless voice for Christian reconciliation, today’s encounter was also deeply personal: a transmission of goodwill and memory from his years of close collaboration with Pope Francis to the new pontificate now beginning.
Patriarch Bartholomew offered personal congratulations to Pope Leo and underscored the urgency of theological dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches—not as a matter of diplomacy but of shared discipleship in a world wounded by war, injustice, and environmental degradation.
The conversation, according to insiders, moved naturally from ecclesial concerns to broader global challenges. Themes of peacebuilding, ecological stewardship, and the pastoral care of those suffering were highlighted as moral imperatives that transcend confessional lines. The Patriarch recalled his many encounters with Pope Francis—over ten, including joint declarations and shared pilgrimages—and expressed a desire to build a similarly fruitful relationship with Leo XIV.
In return, Pope Leo expressed gratitude for the Patriarch’s presence at his inaugural Mass on May 18 and reaffirmed his own commitment to Christian unity. In a gesture rich in symbolic continuity, he accepted Bartholomew’s invitation to Turkey later this year to mark the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea—a foundational moment in Christian history shared by East and West. Though the date remains unspecified, the significance is clear: this will be Leo XIV’s first papal trip abroad, and its destination is no accident.
Their exchange of gifts echoed the tone of the meeting. Patriarch Bartholomew presented the Pope with an icon of the Virgin Mary Odigitria, crafted on Mount Athos, alongside Athonite incense and several of his own publications. In return, Pope Leo offered an artistic rendering of the Baptism of Christ—a scene both Churches venerate, and which speaks symbolically to their shared sacramental heritage.
The Patriarch followed his own path through the Eternal City. At the Turkish Embassy to the Holy See, he was received by Ambassador Elif Çomoğlu Ülgen, an important moment in its own right given the historically delicate relationship between the Turkish state and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. From there, he traveled to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he offered prayer and placed white roses before the tomb of Pope Francis—a personal farewell to a brother in Christ with whom he had shared so many public and private moments.
Perhaps the most intimate stop of all came later in the day when Bartholomew visited the Pontifical Oriental Institute, where he had once studied canon law as a young cleric from Istanbul. Nearly six decades later, he returned not as a student, but as a patriarch—yet still visibly moved by the memory of those formative years.
Speaking to reporters afterward in Italian, Greek, and Turkish, the Patriarch reiterated his hopes for this new pontificate and his confidence in Pope Leo XIV’s intentions. “We have begun again,” he said simply. And perhaps that is the most significant phrase of all.
Thank you for reading our content. If you would like to receive ZENIT’s daily e-mail news, you can subscribe for free through this link.
