The Patriarch of the Rumanian Orthodox Church, Teoctist I, died in Bucharest at the age of 92 today, at about 5 pm, after undergoing a prostate operation. Teoctist had been the first head of the Orthodox Church allowing the visit of his country by a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1999, he actually invited John Paul II to Bucharest. The journey was considered an important stage for ecumenical dialogue. "With joy, I recall the first visit which Your Blessedness made to Rome in 1989, and my journey to Bucharest in 1999", said Pope Wojtyla on meeting His Blessedness Teoctist in Rome, on 12 October 2002, recalling the "fruitful exchange" between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. "Should there be problems or misunderstandings added John Paul II in relation to the "dialogue for truth" between the two churches, it is necessary to face them through a brotherly and frank dialogue, looking for solutions to which the two parties may commit themselves mutually". Now, the synod of the Church will have to elect a new patriarch, the sixth one ever since it was acknowledged "autocephalous" in 1885.
