Pope calls for “full, visible unity of all Christians”

Pope Leo XIV in prayer on December 7, 2025 Photo: Vatican Media

On December 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV, addressing the faithful, spoke about his joint prayer with “our beloved brother Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople” in Nicaea, Vatican News reports.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church recalled the 60th anniversary of the Joint Declaration signed by Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople and Pope Paul VI, which ended the mutual anathemas. “Let us give thanks to God and renew our commitment to the journey toward the full, visible unity of all Christians,” the Pope urged.

On this topic Patriarch Bartholomew and the Pope sign a declaration toward full communion

Turning to Lebanon, the Pope said the country continues to be “a mosaic of coexistence,” saying he was encouraged to hear many people bear witness to that model.

The Pope noted that his trip to Turkey and Lebanon “teaches us that peace is possible – and that Christians, in dialogue with men and women of other faiths and cultures, can help to build it.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Nicaea, Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew recited the Creed without the filioque.

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