Pope Benedict Receives Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

At the end of their meeting, the two men prayed together in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

VATICAN CITY (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, the Pope received the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. At the end of their meeting, the two men prayed together in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

This is the third meeting between the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch. They first met when Benedict XVI visited Istanbul for the Feast of St. Andrew in November 2006, then when Bartholomew travelled to Naples in October last year to participate in an International Meeting for Peace.

This afternoon, Patriarch Bartholomew is scheduled to preside at an academic function at Rome's Pontifical Oriental Institute, where he himself gained his doctorate, for the 90th anniversary of its foundation.

On 4 March he received a doctorate "honoris causa" in international and diplomatic affairs granted by the University of Trieste in northern Italy.

Bartholomew I is being accompanied on his visit by His Eminence Gennadios, metropolitan-archbishop of the Greek Orthodox in Italy and Malta, exarch for southern Europe; His Eminence Athanasios of Helioupolis and Thiera; and His Eminence Ioannis of Pergamo, Orthodox president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.