Apostolic Visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch to the United States

His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, made an Apostolic Visitation to the United States October 20 to November 6 2009. A superb website has been created to commemorate the visit, together with the meetings he had with President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton.

See also the videos of his addresses to the Brookings Institution (on Saving the Soul of the Planet), Fordham and Georgetown Universities and at the US Capitol.

Perhaps the warmest and most telling welcome was expressed by Vice President Joe Biden. The Patriarch Bartholomew had just concluded his Eighth Religion, Science and Environment Symposium in New Orleans, focusing on the Mississippi River.

“We are with you, [and] we support the Ecumenical Patriarch as a leader of global standing,” said Vice President Biden addressing the Ecumenical Patriarch and quoting the Ancient Greek fabulist Aesop who said “It is easy to be brave from a safe distance,” the Vice President said to His All Holiness: “You have always been brave and never from a safe distance. You have stared down those who seek to erode the authority of the Church tirelessly, professing the Greek Orthodox way for millions of followers.”

“Your Holiness I am truly grateful for your work on environmental awareness across the United States of America... You delivered a moving address in New Orleans and in New York, and you have inspired hundreds of thousands of Americans along the way,” continued Mr. Biden and added “you have been a champion for tolerance and interfaith dialogue reaching out to both the Catholic Church and the Moslem community, both in your native country Turkey and throughout the world.”