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# Pat. Bartholomew: Tradition Is 'Not Conservative but Creative'
- URL: https://uoj.news/news/85569-pat-bartholomew-tradition-is-not-conservative-but-creative/
- Published: 2025-11-06T07:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-25T16:14:49.000Z
- Description: The EP then praised Vatican II and its architects, including French theologians Henri de LYves Congar.
- Author: News
- Tags: #Category: News, OCU, Ukraine, Ecumenism, Vatican, France, Catholicism, Catholics, Patriarch Bartholomew

**LOURDES —** Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew told France’s Catholic bishops that authentic tradition is “not conservative but creative.” He then [praised Vatican II](https://orthodoxtimes.com/ecumenical-patriarch-in-lourdes-ukraines-invasion-is-fundamentally-contrary-to-the-gospel-and-to-orthodoxy/) and its architects, including French theologians Henri de Lubac and Yves Congar, according to a report from *Orthodox Times*.

Rejecting ethnophyletism as a heresy, he urged interreligious dialogue and youth-guided renewal.

Bartholomew also renewed calls for environmental repentance, faith-science cooperation, and “ascetic sobriety” against consumerism. 

The Ecumenical Patriarch condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “fundamentally contrary to the Gospel and to Orthodoxy,” decrying a “new alliance between throne and altar” that drags a once-pious nation into “an abyss of impiety.” 

[![](https://uoj.news/content/images/2025/09/85296-pat-bartholomews-glory-to-ukraine-greeting-stirs-greek-backlash-18180d21a696.jpg)On this topicPat. Bartholomew's 'Slava Ukraine' Greeting Stirs Greek Backlash](https://uoj.news/news/85296-pat-bartholomews-glory-to-ukraine-greeting-stirs-greek-backlash/)

He defended the 2019 autocephaly granted to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as essential for freedom of conscience.

Recently, the UOJ reported on [Pope Leo XVI's call](https://uoj.news/news/85557-pope-leo-no-one-possesses-the-whole-truth/) for a more humble and inclusive church, stating that “no one possesses the whole truth” and that “no one is excluded” from participation in Church life."