Ambassador Stelios Rocanas said that the “fraternal dialogue” between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, begun by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras a generation ago, has “made considerable progress.” But that progress must continue, the Greek diplomat said, as it builds “the unity of the faith and solidarity among Christians.”

Rocanas said that the cause of ecumenism is pursued “truly for love of the sacred cause of unity between the two churches,” and is based on the common heritage of 1,000 years. He expressed the hope that that mutual patrimony would prove more important that the later disputes that caused “the tragic schism which has separated us for nearly a millennium.” The ambassador alluded to the February trip by Pope John Paul to Mount Sinai, where he visited the Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine, where most of the monks are natives of Greece. He recalled that the Pope had called for a new era of ecumenism, and looked toward “the arrival of a world without barriers, a world of peace.”