Pope Francis offered his prayers on Sunday as the first Pan-Orthodox Council opened with nine out of 14 churches.
After reciting the Angelus prayer the Pope had thousands of visitors in St Peter’s Square join him in praying a Hail Mary for “all of our Orthodox brothers and sisters”.
Pope Francis noted that the day was Pentecost on the Julian calendar which the Orthodox follow. “Let us unite ourselves to the prayer of our Orthodox brothers and sisters, invoking the Holy Spirit so that He would assist with His gifts the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops gathered in the council,” he said.
The Pope later tweeted: “Let us join in prayer with our Orthodox brothers and sisters for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church opening today in Crete.”
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who is presiding over the council meetings, retweeted the Pope’s message.
In his homily at the Cathedral of St Minas in Heraklion, Crete, Patriarch Bartholomew said the Orthodox Church was united in its faith in Christ and in Church doctrine.
“The Orthodox Church is one, but reveals itself in the world through its individual local vines, which are unbreakably and indivisibly attached to one – to one Church, to one body,” he said.
The patriarch did not directly address the absence of delegations from the Orthodox churches of Bulgaria, Antioch, Georgia, Serbia and Russia, the last being the largest of the Orthodox churches, but he said the council was needed to “protect the faithful from the prevailing errors” present in the world today.
Last priest to have survived Dachau dies aged 102
The last surviving priest to have lived in Dachau prison camp has died in his home town of Ochtrup, Germany, aged 102.
Fr Hermann Scheipers was arrested in October 1940 by German authorities because of his staunch Catholicism and taken to Dachau, near Munich, five months later. The camp held a large number of priests.
Fr Scheipers was sympathetic to Polish forced labourers, celebrating Mass with them and hearing their Confessions prior to being taken into custody, reported KNA, the German Catholic news agency.
He later learned the reason for his arrest after coming across his Nazi file. “Scheipers is a fanatical proponent of the Catholic Church and thus likely to cause unrest among the population,” the German authorities wrote.
In the camp, KNA reported, Fr Scheipers, like many of the priests, “slaved away as a field worker, receiving mostly watery soup to eat. Persons who aren’t fast enough are whipped, hung by the arms or drenched in ice water”. Many died.
In his memoir Fr Scheipers wrote: “The only thing one could do was escape or pray.”
Pontiff hails ‘artisans’ of wonder
Pope Francis has thanked acrobats, clowns, carnival workers, street performers, musicians and magicians for bringing beauty and joy to an often dark, sad world. “You cannot imagine what good you do, the good you sow,” he said during an audience celebrating the jubilee of circus and travelling-show performers. He called them “artisans” of wonder, beauty and celebration.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.