This is a very newsworthy development that I haven't seen much discussion about and didn't know where to post, so starting a new thread.
(Mods please move/retitle if this is in the incorrect place or doesn't deserve it's own thread.)
Is this going to to be a significant development over the coming years or just a nice symbolic gesture with nothing further coming from it?
orthodoxtimes.com
From the article:
He also recalled a landmark moment with Pope Francis: “We made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem — at my initiative — to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting between our predecessors, Athenagoras and Paul VI. We knelt together before the Lord’s Tomb and prayed for the reunion of our Churches and for all humanity.”
Looking ahead, Patriarch Bartholomew expressed his intention to attend Pope Leo XIV’s enthronement and continue fostering collaboration: “We look toward the new Pontiff with Christian hope. I intend to travel for his enthronement and propose that we advance the dialogue between East and West. May he combine a visit to Nicaea with an official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, on the occasion of our feast of Saint Andrew on November 30.”
zenit.org
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.
From article #3:
In his trailblazing inaugural sermon, Pope Leo XIV pointed to Christ, rather than Peter, as the foundational “rock” of Christianity, using the term “sister Christian churches” to mark his desire for ecumenical unity.
“Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus,” he told the 150,000 Catholics as well as representatives from Protestant and Orthodox churches who gathered at St. Peter’s Square for his inaugural Mass on Sunday morning.
Leo XIV noted that “the Apostle Peter himself tells us that Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, and has become the cornerstone,’” expressly designating Jesus as the founding rock of the Church.
“Moreover, if the rock is Christ, Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat, lording it over those entrusted to him,” the pontiff emphasized, in a significant departure from conventional Catholic interpretation, which identifies Peter as the “rock” on which Jesus built the Church.
Leo XIV described the papal office as a calling to “serve the faith of his brothers and sisters, and to walk alongside them,” underscoring the role of all baptized believers as “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5), called “to build God’s house in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of diversity.”
Particularly of interest:
The Vatican’s official text of the sermon italicized the words “I come to you as a brother” — a consequential marker indicating Leo’s intention to remodel the papacy into the office of a primus inter pares (first among equals), which has been a significant demand of Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches in ecumenical dialogues with the Vatican in recent years.
(Mods please move/retitle if this is in the incorrect place or doesn't deserve it's own thread.)
Is this going to to be a significant development over the coming years or just a nice symbolic gesture with nothing further coming from it?
Ecumenical Patriarch on Pope Leo: I will attend his enthronement to advance dialogue between East and West | Orthodox Times (en)
On the evening of Thursday, May 8, 2025, a moving tribute was held at the amphitheater of the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens, honoring the life and work of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The event took place just hours after the election of the new Pope of Rome —…
orthodoxtimes.com
From the article:
He also recalled a landmark moment with Pope Francis: “We made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem — at my initiative — to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting between our predecessors, Athenagoras and Paul VI. We knelt together before the Lord’s Tomb and prayed for the reunion of our Churches and for all humanity.”
Looking ahead, Patriarch Bartholomew expressed his intention to attend Pope Leo XIV’s enthronement and continue fostering collaboration: “We look toward the new Pontiff with Christian hope. I intend to travel for his enthronement and propose that we advance the dialogue between East and West. May he combine a visit to Nicaea with an official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, on the occasion of our feast of Saint Andrew on November 30.”
Leo XIV will go to Turkey at the end of 2025. Patriarch of Constantinople confirms it after audience - ZENIT - English
Patriarch Bartholomew offered personal congratulations to Pope Leo and underscored the urgency of theological dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches
zenit.org
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.
Pope Leo XIV Drops Papal Supremacy, Urging ‘Full Communion’ with ‘All Christians’
In his trailblazing inaugural sermon, Pope Leo XIV pointed to Christ, rather than Peter, as the foundational “rock” of Christianity, using the term “sister Christian churches” to mark his desire for ecumenical unity. “Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter...
anglican.ink
From article #3:
In his trailblazing inaugural sermon, Pope Leo XIV pointed to Christ, rather than Peter, as the foundational “rock” of Christianity, using the term “sister Christian churches” to mark his desire for ecumenical unity.
“Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus,” he told the 150,000 Catholics as well as representatives from Protestant and Orthodox churches who gathered at St. Peter’s Square for his inaugural Mass on Sunday morning.
Leo XIV noted that “the Apostle Peter himself tells us that Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, and has become the cornerstone,’” expressly designating Jesus as the founding rock of the Church.
“Moreover, if the rock is Christ, Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat, lording it over those entrusted to him,” the pontiff emphasized, in a significant departure from conventional Catholic interpretation, which identifies Peter as the “rock” on which Jesus built the Church.
Leo XIV described the papal office as a calling to “serve the faith of his brothers and sisters, and to walk alongside them,” underscoring the role of all baptized believers as “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5), called “to build God’s house in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of diversity.”
Particularly of interest:
The Vatican’s official text of the sermon italicized the words “I come to you as a brother” — a consequential marker indicating Leo’s intention to remodel the papacy into the office of a primus inter pares (first among equals), which has been a significant demand of Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches in ecumenical dialogues with the Vatican in recent years.
