The Vatican in a Difficult Search

During his visit to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV met with the current Archbishop of Constantinople, Bartholomew, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Constantinople in Turkey.

Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop Bartholomew signed a joint declaration calling for reconciliation and unity. They spoke out against any use of religion to justify violence.

The peace-making element of the declaration is welcome.

However, the format and content of the document also contain elements that are more likely to provoke division and hostility than reconciliation.

The designation of Bartholomew as “Ecumenical Patriarch” and his signing of documents in this capacity is, to put it mildly, controversial under Turkish and canon law.

The Turkish government does not officially recognize Bartholomew’s title as “Ecumenical Patriarch.” Ankara only accepts his status as the head of the small (several thousand people) Greek Orthodox community in Turkey. Ankara staunchly opposes attempts to grant Phanar (the Istanbul district where Bartholomew resides) the status of a global center of Orthodoxy, comparable to the Vatican.

In light of this, the signing of a Declaration between the Vatican and Phanar as the centers of Catholicism and Orthodoxy appears logically absurd and even somewhat a challenge. Why?

The canonical Orthodox churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, are even more resolute in opposing Bartholomew’s “Caesarist” claims.

The schismatic organization patronized by Bartholomew, the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), is committing monstrous violence against the Orthodox community in Ukraine, forcibly seizing churches and beating and murdering priests.

Bartholomew, who hypocritically condemns the “religious justification of violence,” is in fact encouraging the outright banditry of his supporters in Ukraine. Clearly, a normal reaction from Bartholomew is unlikely. But the Vatican Primate has also made no call to end the interreligious violence in Ukraine.

The new Catholic Pontiff, Leo XIV, who is beginning his pastoral ministry, seems to have yet to find a course of action that truly leads to Christian reconciliation and unity on all issues.