Orthodox Archbishop to Francis: "Imitate Ratzinger!"
Francis has been travelling to Cyprus and Greece from Thursday to Monday. The Cypriotic Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II told him that the local Orthodox Church was being martyred by the Turks. Chrysostomos spoke of a holy war, of cultural destruction, of the suffering Greeks and of the "barbarism" of settlers imported from the hinterland of Anatolia into Cyprus. Chrysostomos asked Francis to help and to imitate Pope Benedict. The latter negotiated with Ankara with the help of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and obtained the return of 500 archaeological artefacts found in the Turkish part of Cyprus since 1974.
A politician knows neither truth nor tradition
As expected, Francis reacted evasively to the archbishop’s complaint. He ignored the Turkish question and said that prejudices between Catholics and Orthodox had to be reduced to find a way of reconciliation and communion. Differences are not irreconcilable he explained, adding …More