Patrijarh Vartolomej i Papa Franjo
Historical meeting and Christian unity between the patriarchs of the ancient Christian churches. If not counting my biased views, this would be a great healing of the two sides as far as i am concerned. Of course, Patriarch Bartholomew is a smart and eco-friendly church leader while Pope Francis is the humble and socially able successor of Saint Peter.
Well, if one would think it on both sides, the historical meeting would have an implications as well, especially to the monk of the sacred mountain Mount Athos which rejects any kinds if ecumenisn or interfaith activities. In my opinion, let the church leaders attend only Christian related ecumenism and not interfaith ones. I am not saying Patriarch Bartholomew did good or bad but his decisions are for the better of this contemporary period and renouncing extremism of Old calendarists or alternative synods. On the flip side, if the Vatican wants to talk to the Serbian patriarch Irinej, they should somehow apologize for what happened in Nezavisna Država Hrvatska and the Jasenovac concentration camp, the reason that the Vatican is an evil group to the Serbian people. Not to mention the false pretense of the Brest-Litovsk union in present day Belarus were Eastern Catholics are trying to invade Russian territory via religion and destroy Orthodoxy.
On the Catholic side, of course a few people knew the Pope Pius X Society(SPPX) and other traditionalist Catholic views but they are a threat to Catholicism from the inside because of Vatican II reforms, removing the tridentine mass and the somehow Protestantist preaching of the Roman Catholic church.
If Orthodoxy promotes itself silently, Catholicsm is promoting itself almost everyday. Problems still rise if both sects don't discuss things more openly. For example, Pope Francis wants to open the Vatican archives and let the public knew. Would this make him not just a spiritual hero but a champion of the people? Or the people will knew more about what happened in Jasenovac?
But unlike Pope Benedict XVI known for his extravagant lifestyle, Pope Francis is simple and down to earth guy. Maybe a much bettet scenario would make him much popular to the world like how Pope John Paul II used his charisma for the people.
Patriarch Bartholomew on the other hand is a well respected theologian, environmentalist and the speaker of the whole Orthodox Christian sect. I admire him as well because of his openess and resiliency. He has more problems than the whole Catholic popes whom he got into with. Like the Halki seminary being closed and the line of succession is limited by the Turkish republic to Greeks who were born in Turkish soil. The persecution of Serbian Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and in Macedonia. Old calendarists and alternative synods and growing anti religious movements in Europe.
With these challenges ahead, we pray that the two leaders would empower there lay people more as the threat of anti-religious norms grow and the ever changing world.
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