In Turkey, Pope Leo XIV Seeks to Soothe Ancient Christian Divide

It's been 971 years since the great rift that led to centuries of rivalry between the Catholic Church in Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople, now Istanbul.

Recent decades have seen a warming of ties between the two denominations, a rapprochement that Pope Leo XIV hopes to build on during his four-day visit to Turkey, which began Thursday.

He plans to meet the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, on Saturday in Istanbul and dine with him Sunday, before flying to Lebanon for Part 2 of the first international trip of his papacy.

"It bears a great symbolism for Christianity and it is definitely a very positive thing," said Minas Vasiliadis, who runs Apoyevmatini, a Greek-language newspaper in Istanbul.

The meeting will not resolve long-standing differences between the congregations, he said, but greater amity can help "Christianity to accept its differences and move together in order to solve the problems of today."

The pope's visit to Turkey -- a predominantly Muslim country with a tiny Catholic population -- is partly to commemorate the 1,700-year anniversary of an assembly in Nicaea, now the Turkish city of Iznik, east of Istanbul, at which Christian leaders defined tenets of their faith.

By emphasizing that creed, which Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants still follow regardless of other theological differences, the pope seeks to emphasize Christian unity, Vatican officials say.

The pope and the patriarch hold very different positions in the world.

Leo is the leader of the Catholic Church and head of Vatican state, surrounded by predominantly Catholic Italy.

Bartholomew heads the Eastern Orthodox Church from Istanbul; its followers are mostly elsewhere, in Greece and other parts of Europe, North America and Australia.

Inside Turkey, he presides over a minuscule Greek Orthodox community, whose population has been shrinking for a century because of episodes of religious violence and government discrimination against ethnic Greeks and their institutions.

Greek communities in Istanbul and elsewhere also paid the price for conflicts between Turkey and Greece, said Emre Oktem, a professor of international law at Galatasaray University in Istanbul.

In the early 20th century, ethnic Greeks, who are overwhelmingly Orthodox, made up about 30% of Istanbul's population of more than 1 million people. Now, only about 1,500 ethnic Greeks remain in Turkey, according to Oktem and other experts. Most live in Istanbul or on Turkish islands in Aegean Sea.

Many churches where they once worshipped are now closed or nearly empty. The government has converted others to mosques. These include the Hagia Sofia, an ancient Byzantine cathedral and architectural marvel, whose reopening in 2020 as a Muslim house of worship dismayed many Christians.

Their schools, too, have few students. This year, Istanbul's Private Fener Greek High School, a towering, red, castle-like structure built in the 1880s, has only 31 students.

International agreements keep the patriarch in Istanbul. But Turkey refers to him as the Patriarch of Fener, using the name of the neighborhood where his office is.

One big dispute between the Greek Orthodox and the Turkish government is the fate of the Theological School of Halki, a seminary opened in 1844 on an island in the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul, to train Orthodox clergy. The Turkish government shut it down in 1971.

The patriarchate has been in talks with the government for years about the school, and President Donald Trump asked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to reopen it when they met last month in Washington.

Seated next to Trump in the Oval Office, Erdogan said Turkey was "prepared to do whatever we need to do" about the seminary.

"We appreciate it," Trump replied.

One recent Sunday morning, the baritone voices of two priests and their deacons echoed off the walls of the seminary's church as they chanted an Orthodox Liturgy.

At first, only one worshipper was in attendance. Later, a few dozen tourists from Greece and Albania entered the sanctuary, crossing themselves and kissing a large image of Mary and Jesus.

Bishop Kassianos of Aravissos, the abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery at the seminary, said in an interview that Leo's decision to visit Turkey on his first trip beyond Italy indicated the importance of the country and the patriarchate.

"This shows respect between churches and how much loyalty there is to the historic values," he said.

Talks were going well with the government about the seminary, which the patriarchate wants to reopen as a private four-year university for 60 or 70 students, he said.

"I believe we are step-by-step approaching the conclusion," he said.

The bishop vowed that despite their community's many challenges, he and his brethren would keep working to maintain their historic presence.

"The patriarchate has been here for 17 centuries and this seminary belongs to the patriarchate," he said. "Until the last light is off, the last lamp is off, those will survive here."