Ecumenical Patriarchate / Facebook Screenshot
CV NEWS FEED // Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople mourned the death of Pope Francis last week, calling the late pontiff “a friend of Orthodoxy.”
Speaking during an April 25 Divine Liturgy at the Church of Saint George of Ptochokomeio in Constantinople, the leader of Orthodox Christians worldwide asked the faithful to pray for the late pope’s soul, Orthodox Times reported.
“I would like to ask for your prayers for the repose of Pope Francis, who was a friend of Orthodoxy,” the Patriarch said.
He recalled his personal bond with Pope Francis, including their historic pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 2014.
“We knelt together, side by side, in front of the Tomb of the Lord and prayed for the unity of the Christian world and for peace across the globe,” he said.
Patriarch Bartholomew also noted that Pope Francis had planned to join him next month in Nicaea to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council.
“He was due to come to our country and together we would go to Nicaea … to honor the memory of the Holy Fathers and exchange thoughts and wishes for the future of Christianity,” the Patriarch explained. “All of this, of course, was canceled — or rather, postponed.”
Looking ahead, Patriarch Bartholomew expressed hope that the next pope would join him in Nicaea to reaffirm a shared commitment to “unity, love, brotherhood, and shared path toward the future of Christianity.”
