The Roman Catholic Church today celebrated the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the Church and co-patrons of the Italian capital. During the official Mass celebrated at St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that “the example of Peter is also a call to every Christian to contribute to building unity, to choose God as the central point of reference in life, and to always walk alongside our brothers and sisters.” “Communion within the Church is not built by always clinging to our own positions, but by seeking — in the hearts of all — points of encounter through truth, in whose light we become instruments of mutual enrichment and growth,” the pontiff added.
An official delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate attended the Divine Liturgy at St. Peter’s Basilica
An official delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate attended the Divine Liturgy at St. Peter’s Basilica, led by Metropolitan Elder Emmanuel of Chalcedon — President of the Synodal Committee of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for Relations with the Roman Catholic Church — along with the Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios, Director of the Private Patriarchal Office, and Patriarchal Deacon Anatolios Doxastakis. The delegation is expected to hold a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV tomorrow.
It is worth noting that, in a parallel tradition, a delegation from the Catholic Church travels each year to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the Feast of Saint Andrew, the Patriarchate’s throne feast. Also present at today’s Mass at St. Peter’s were Greece’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Despoina Poulou, and Cyprus’s Ambassador Giorgos Poulidis — the “dean” of the foreign ambassadors, as the longest-serving diplomat accredited to the Vatican.
