Greece Archives

Why are opposing sides in U.S., Europe cheering Pope on immigration?

News Analysis
September 13, 2017

Pope Francis on Monday called out U.S. President Donald Trump for threatening the DACA program, but also told Italians he recognized the need for limits and “prudence” on immigration. One way to explain the apparently different emphasis is that when Francis addresses immigration, he usually makes a (sometimes silent) distinction between spiritual and moral dispositions, and concrete acts of governance.

Pope Francis donates 50,000 euros to Greek island struck by earthquake

Catholic News Agency, Vatican
July 5, 2017

Pope Francis has made a concrete act of solidarity after a powerful earthquake measuring 6.3 hit the western coast of Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos. The quake killed one person, displaced approximately 800 others, and destroyed infrastructure from the Turkish Aegean province, Izmir, to the Greek capital, Athens.

On anniversary, can we finally catch Benedict’s point at Regensburg?

Analysis, Global Church
September 12, 2016

Today marks the tenth anniversary of perhaps the most controversial papal speech of the last half-century, delivered by Benedict XVI in Regensburg, and a decade later the central point seems still to be lost in the noise — to wit, the speech wasn’t about Islam but the West.

World Orthodox leaders meet despite Russia’s absence

Associated Press
June 20, 2016

Despite decades of preparation, Orthodox leaders failed ahead of the meeting in Crete to overcome differences. They include efforts to reconcile with the Vatican and areas of influence that typically predate current national borders.

Leading cleric says Orthodox Church’s ‘Vatican II’ is a go

Global Church, Interviews
June 7, 2016

“Unity is an objective, not a given,” says the Rev. John Chryssavgis, an archdeacon and theological adviser to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. “It may be there spiritually and liturgically and sacramentally, but to make it visible is hard, painful, slow work, and it takes time.”

Putin visits Greek Orthodox monastery where women are banned

Associated Press, Church, Global Church
May 29, 2016

Greece’s Mount Athos, an autonomous monastic community located on a peninsula, is a spiritual ark of Eastern Christianity, and women face a 12-month jail sentence for trying to enter.