“Words that the Orthodox have been awaiting for centuries”. That’s how the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania, Teoctist, recalled the words pronounced by John Paul II during his visit to the country in 1999. “The Christian faith was brought to this land by Peter’s brother, Andrew”, the Pope had then said. The 25th anniversary of his pontificate was celebrated in Bucharest on 2 September with an event promoted in the capital by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the Italian Institute of Culture, in which the Orthodox Patriarch also took part.
