Bilateral Dialogues: Rome 2017
Francis – Theophilos of Jerusalem

Address of his Holiness Pope Francis to his Beatitude Theophilos III Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem

23 October 2017

Your Beatitude,
Dear Brothers,

With great joy I welcome all of you to Rome. I reciprocate with gratitude and fraternal affection the warm welcome Your Beatitude offered me during my visit to Jerusalem. Still fresh in my mind is the attentiveness with which you accompanied Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and myself in the Basilica that preserves the places of the Lord’s crucifixion, burial and Resurrection.  I am still moved when I think of our moment of prayer in the aedicule of the empty Tomb, and I again express my pleasure at the restoration of that most holy place. It has not simply secured the integrity of a historical monument, but also enabled the empty tomb to continue to testify that: “He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him” (Mk16:6). I rejoice that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land have worked together in such harmony on this project, as they also did for the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. I thank Your Beatitude very much for your own efforts in this regard.

Our meeting allows me to renew my closeness to all those suffering from the conflicts that for decades have beset theHoly Land. The uncertainty of the situation and the lack of understanding between the parties continue to create insecurity, the restriction of fundamental rights, and the flight of many people from their land. I invoke God’s help in this, and I ask all those involved to intensify their efforts to achieve a stable peace based on justice and recognition of the rights of all. To this end, any kind of violence, discrimination or displays of intolerance against Jewish, Christian and Muslim worshipers, or places of worship, must be firmly rejected. The Holy City, whose Status Quo must be defended and preserved, ought to be a place where all can live together peaceably; otherwise, the endless spiral of suffering will continue for all.

I would offer a particular greeting to the members of the various Christian communities in the Holy Land. It is my hope that they will continue to be recognized as an integral part of society and that, as citizens and believers in their own right, they can continue tirelessly to contribute to the common good and the growth of peace, striving to further reconciliation and concord. This contribution will be the more effective to the extent that there is harmony between the region’s different Churches. Particularly important in this regard would be increased cooperation in supporting Christian families and young people, so that they will not be forced to leave their land. By working together in this delicate area, the faithful of different confessions will also be able to grow in mutual knowledge and fraternal relations.

Here I would reaffirm my heartfelt desire and commitment to progress on our way to full unity, in obedience to Jesus’ fervent prayer in the Cenacle “that they may all be one… so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). I know that past wounds continue to affect the memory of many people. It is not possible to change the past, but, without forgetting grave failures of charity over the centuries, let us look to a future of full reconciliation and fraternal communion, and take up the work before us, as the Lord desires. Not to do so today would be an even graver fault; it would be to disregard both the urgent call of Christ and the signs of the times sown by the Spirit along the Church’s path. Inspired by the same Spirit, may we not let the memory of times marked by lack of communication or mutual accusations, or present difficulties and uncertainty about the future, prevent us from walking together towards visible unity, nor hinder us from praying and working together to proclaim theGospel and to serve those in need. In this regard, the ongoing theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem participates actively and constructively, is a comforting sign of hopeon our journey. How good it would be to say of Catholics and Orthodox living in Jerusalem what the Evangelist Luke said of the first Christian community: “All who believed were together... one heart and soul” (Acts 2:44; 4:32).

Your Beatitude, I thank you and the distinguished members of your entourage most cordially for your visit. I reaffirm my closeness to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Holy Land, and my affection for our friends of the other great religions who live there. I hope and pray that the day of a stable and lasting peace for all will soon come. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper who love you! [...] For my brethren and companions’ sake I will say, ‘peace be within you!’” (Ps 122: 6-8).

[I would like us now to pray together for this, in the words of the “Our Father”]

Address to his Holiness Pope Francis on the occasion of the visit of Patriarch Theophilos III. to the Vatican

October 23, 2017

Your Holiness,

Your Eminences,

Your Graces,

We greet you, Your Holiness, with the blessings of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and we bring with us the hopes and aspirations of the many peoples of our region who long for peaceful co-existence and the restoration of the true integrity of our multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious society.

We recall with great joy your pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2014 with His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, which marked the 50th anniversary of the joint pilgrimage of the late Pope Paul VI and the late Patriarch Athenagoras.   We remember especially our joint witness before the All-Holy and Life-Giving Tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ.   We also have in mind today the gathering here a month later with President Shimon Perez and President Mahmoud Abbas, in which the multi-religious nature of our region was highlighted.

We are here today for this fraternal visit on a pastoral mission.   We have come to Rome to express our concern to you, Your Holiness, about the profound threat that has been developing in recent years to the integrity of the Holy Land and theMiddle East.   As Your Holiness is aware, the Middle East is, by its very nature, evidenced by our history and the presence of the holy sites of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, a pluralistic society.   For millennia we have lived a common life in which our many cultures, ethnicities, and religions have flourished in mutual respect and co-operation.

In recent years we have seen fresh attacks on the very nature of our society and the well-being of various religious and ethnic groups.   We have seen the rise of new persecutions, and an increase in displaced populations.   All this is well-known and well-documented.

We come now to share with you the new and deeply disturbing situation in the Holy Land, in which the historic rights of the Christian community are being undermined.   Recently there has been introduced into theKnesset a proposed bill which, if passed into law, would change fundamentally the rights of the Churches over their landand property.   This would encroach on historic and legal protections that have supported our multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious society for centuries and that have been upheld without challenge by successive governmental authorities in our region.

Furthermore, we now face a direct affront to the integrity of the Holy City in a wrongful and, we believe, unjust judgement against the Patriarchate, and in favour of right-wing settlor groups, with respect to some of our historic properties in the Christian Quarter of the Old City.   We hold that the judgement in favour of the sale of these properties is incorrect, and we are engaged in an appeal through the proper channels.   However, we are deeply concerned about the path of both these actions, and the threat that they represent to the well-being of the Christian presence in the Holy City in particular, and the Holy Land in general.

In this regard we have come to Rome not in our capacity as the Patriarch of one Church only, but in the name of all theHeads of the Churches and Christian communities of the Holy Land.   We to whom the pastoral oversight of the Christian communities of the Holy Land have been entrusted have met and are fully united in opposition to what we see as an attempt to change the provisions and the spirit of the historic Status Quo and the delicate balance that must exist if theHoly Land is to be sustained in its integrity as a region where many peoples can live and flourish and be witnesses to the divine-human encounter of which the holy sites are a tangible sign.

We are asking all those who love Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and all people of good will, around the world to join us in opposing these incursions on the life of the Christian community, and we wish to inform Your Holiness in person of these matters.   We are encouraging all to assist us in opposing the draft bill and to rectifying a wrongfully concluded judgement, thus giving a clear message of international support to the Christian presence in theHoly Land and the wider Middle East.   In this way we shall help in the best way we can to ensure that our region remains what it has always been, a place where peoples of many culturesand religions may live in peaceful co-existence and mutual regard.

Thank you.