Greece: "a time of grace"" "
“A time of grace for the whole Church”: that’s how Msgr. Nicolaos Foskolos, president of the Greek Episcopal Conference and archbishop of Athens, defines the twenty-five years of pontificate of John Paul II. “All Greek Catholics are close to the Pope and are praying for him, that the Lord may give him strength and health to guide the Church for a long time to come”. “Very much alive in the hearts of the faithful says Archbishop Foscolos is the memory of the Pope’s pilgrimage to Greece on 4/5 May 2001 and his joint declaration with Christodoulos, archbishop of Athens and all Greece, before the ‘bema’ [podium] of the Areopagus, from which St. Paul preached to the Athenians of the one true God, calling them to faith and conversion. Ever since then, something in Greece has been slowly changing, especially in ecumenical dialogue. And this slow change in relations may be considered the result of John Paul II’s presence and action”.
