The Pope expressed his "condolence" for the death of His Beatitude Christodoulos, archbishop of Athens and primate of the Greek Orthodox Church. In a telegram sent yesterday to Seraphim, metropolitan bishop of Karystia and Skyros, published today by the Vatican Newsroom, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that with archbishop Christodoulos “a new era of friendly cooperation has opened” between Rome and Athens. In his message, the Pope also refers to the "fraternal welcome" that Christodoulos gave to John Paul II "on the occasion of his visit to Athens in May 2001″ and Christodoulos’s visit to Rome in 2006, as the signs of a "new era" between the Catholics and the Orthodox of Greece "to improve friendship in search of a closer communication from the perspective of a growing unity of Europe”. Finally, the Pope writes that he is praying for the Church of Greece "to continue Christodoulos’s pastoral commitments".
