March 19, 2013
The Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople, Bartholomew I, will attend the
installation Mass of Pope Francis in Rome. Not since
the Great Schism in 1054 has the Patriarch of
Constantinople attended the installation Mass of the
Roman Pontiff. The Patriarch will be accompanied by
Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas of Pergamon and
co-president of the Joint International Commission
for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic
and the Orthodox Church, as well as Metropolitan
Tarassios of Argentina and Metropolitan Gennadios of
Italy.
A delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate headed by
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the
Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church
Relations (DECR), arrived in Rome to attend the
enthronement of Pope Francis. However there will be no
representative of the Moscow Patriarchate at the
installation Mass.
DECR
