TURKEY: The spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians expressed "deep personal sorrow" over the death of Pope John Paul II and called his passing a loss for all of Christianity.
In a statement yesterday, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I praised the Pope's efforts to reunite the eastern and western branches of Christianity, bitterly split in an 11th-century schism.
The Pope had made reconciliation between Catholics and Orthodox Christians a priority of his reign.
"Pope John Paul II envisioned the restoration of the unity of Christians, and he worked for its realisation," said Bartholomew, whose seat is in Istanbul.
"His death is a loss not only to his church, but to all of Christianity and to the international community in general, which desires peace and justice.
"We express our deep personal sorrow . . . and we share in the mourning of millions of our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters worldwide."
The Pope had worked closely with Bartholomew to heal wounds between the two churches that also stem from the 1453 fall of Orthodox Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul, to Ottoman Turks.
Orthodox Christians blamed the Vatican for the 13th-century Crusaders' attacks on Constantinople that weakened their capital and paved the way for the Muslim Ottoman conquest.
In 2001 John Paul asked God to forgive Roman Catholics for 1,000 years of sins against the Orthodox. He also apologised to Muslims for the Crusades. - (Reuters)