Pat. Bartholomew Asks GOARCH to Fund Papal Visit

Source: Orthodox Times

ISTANBUL — The Ecumenical Patriarch is seeking financial contributions from the Metropolises of America to fund Pope Leo's visit to the Phanar, the National Herald reports.

The Roman pontiff plans to be in Istanbul for the Feast of St. Andrew (November 30), the Thronal Feast of the Church of Constantinople. Batholomew and Leo will then journey together to Nicaea, to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council held there.

The Patriarch has charged the newly-appointed Grand Archpriest Alexander Karloutsos to oversee the event’s organization and has urged American Metropolitans to coordinate with him.

In a letter dated September 26, 2025—the day after the Patriarch’s departure—Archbishop Elpidophoros of America wrote:

You already know that an official Pan-American pilgrimage is being organized to Constantinople and Nicaea around the Thronal Feast of the Mother Church of St. Andrew, to which you have also been personally invited.

In response to the expressed request and solemn exhortation of our Patriarch, the organization in the Phanar of the celebrations marking the 1700 years since the convocation of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, in the presence of the Roman Pontiff, has been entrusted to one of the clergy of our Holy Archdiocese, the Reverend Grand Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne, Fr. Alexander Karloutsos. Therefore, the Mother Church respectfully requests that each Holy Metropolis contribute to the expenses of this event with the amount of $35,000.

Accordingly, Your Eminence is also kindly requested, in consultation with the aforementioned esteemed clergyman, to coordinate your efforts toward the stated purpose.

The National Herald also cited unnamed sources as saying that, during his time in Thessaloniki for events related to the theological journal Theologia of the Church of Greece, Patriarch Bartholomew approached journalists, including owners of ecclesiastical websites, requesting they write positively about Archbishop Elpidophoros, stating there are no issues and that the Omogeneia loves and honors him.

Recently, the UOJ analyzed Karloutsos' elevation to the dignity of Megas Protopresbyteros.

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