GREECE: POPE JOHN PAUL II ARRIVES IN ATHENS TO BEGIN HISTORIC PILGRIMAGE THROUGH GREECE

Record ID: 551724

  • Title: GREECE: POPE JOHN PAUL II ARRIVES IN ATHENS TO BEGIN HISTORIC PILGRIMAGE THROUGH GREECE
  • Date: 4th May 2001
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE, MAY 4, 2001 (REUTERS) SLV/MV: VATICAN AND GREEK FLAGS ON POSTS AROUND CITY (2 SHOTS) SV: POLICE ON STREET CORNER MV: POLICE CORDON ACROSS STREET MV: A GROUP OF POLICE TALKING MV: POPE'S PLANE ARRIVING AND TAXIING ON TARMAC CLOSE UP OF PILOTS IN COCKPIT LV: PLANE ON TARMAC AND CROWD AROUND STEPS SV OF CLERGY AND GREEK OFFICIALS IN CROWD (2 SHOTS) SV: POPE LEAVES PLANE, WAVES TO CROWD AND MAKES HIS WAY SLOWLY DOWN STEPS ONTO RED CARPET VARIOUS OF POPE DESCENDING STEPS (3 SHOTS) MV/SLV: POPE BEING GREETED BY OFFICIALS (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ATHENS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: International Relations,People,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA9K3IM6TD1LNS4RW5HOB7U1BPW
  • Story Text: Pope John Paul used a controversial trip to Greece on Friday to ask for divine forgiveness for sins committed by Catholics against Orthodox Christians and end 1,000 years of animosity with the Greek Orthodox Church.
    The Pope is on the controversial first leg of a pilgrimage to retrace St Paul's journey through Greece, Syria and Malta.
    Religious groups in the capital Athens rang church bells and held prayers against the visit of the Pope, while the pontiff visited his Catholic worshippers across town.
    The historic move by the 80-year-old Pontiff came on Friday (May 4) at the start of a highly-charged visit in which Greek Archbishop Christodoulos, voicing the anger of many Orthodox faithful, called on the Pope to apologise for centuries of misdeeds.
    "For occasions past and present, when the sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by actions and omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us the forgiveness we beg of him," the white-clad Pope said in an address to Christodoulos.
    He specifically cited the 1204 sacking of Constantinople by Crusaders, an act he said filled today's Catholics with "deep regret".
    The Pope was on the controversial first leg of a pilgrimage to retrace St Paul's journey through Greece, Syria and Malta.
    Conservative Greek Orthodox Christians have protested against his visit, blaming the Catholic Church for the Great Schism of 1054 which divided Christianity into Eastern and Western branches.
    The pontiff's call for forgiveness followed a lambasting by Christodoulos, who told the Pope that an apology was needed for a range of grievances from the schism to a lack of publicly expressed concern over the divided island of Cyprus.
    "Traumatic experiences remain as open wounds on (the Greek people's) vigorous body," Christodoulos said. "Yet, until now, there has not been heard even a single request for pardon."
    Christodoulos, who grudgingly accepted the Pope's visit to Greece after the government invited him, burst into applause at the pontiff's call for forgiveness.
    The Archbishop had earlier presented the Pope with an icon and a golden staff crowned with a wreath.
    Earlier, the pontiff arrived in Athens to a low-profile reception in which he was greeted with a traditional olive branch and children in traditional Greek clothes.
    Vatican officials said he kissed Greek soil -- his traditional blessing on arrival in a new country -- held up in a basket, although the ceremony was blocked from many people's view by officials greeting him.
    Among the conservative Orthodox faithful, the call for forgiveness was slow to take hold. Black-robed priests, monks and nuns demonstrated below the Acropolis in Athens's historical Plaka district.
    A church nearby tolled its bell in mourning while its Greek flag flew at half-mast.
    Orthodox militant believers gathered at a chapel to pray against the Pope's visit and protest against the Archbishop's decision to meet with the pontiff.
    The protest was on a smaller scale than earlier days which brought in thousands to the capital.
    At the same time John Paul blessed his worshippers at the Catholic Cathedral a few blocks away.
    Inside, a hymn was said as the Pope blessed the gatherers.
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