Ecumenical Patriarch Welcomes Pope's Call

Jun 17, 6:42 AM (ET)

By JAMES C. HELICKE

(AP) Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I leads the Easter Resurrection Service at the...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - The spiritual leader of the world's 200 million Orthodox Christians welcomed Pope Benedict XVI's pledge to end a schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, calling it a mutual "obligation to God.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's statement to The Associated Press was his first response to the new pope's call to heal the 1,000-year rift and reflected the difficult task of trying to reconcile differences between the two churches. He warned that the path to unity would be "slow and painful."

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050617/D8APAHTG0.html