Patriarch Teoctist

Patriarch Teoctist, Pope Benedict XVI offered his condolences to members of the Romanian Orthodox Church and appointed a high-level delegation to represent him at the funeral for Patriarch Teoctist, who died July 30 at age 92. Patriarch Teoctist made history by inviting Pope John Paul II to Romania in 1999, paving the way for the first visit by a pope to an Orthodox country since the schism of 1054. In an Aug. 1 telegram to members of the Romanian Orthodox synod, Pope Benedict assured them of his "spiritual union with all those who mourn the passing of this distinguished and highly regarded church leader." The funeral was held Aug. 3 in Bucharest, with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople officiating. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, led the Vatican delegation. In his telegram, Pope Benedict recalled the welcome Patriarch Teoctist gave to Pope John Paul II when the pope visited Romania in 1999 in response to the first invitation extended to a pope by a patriarch in a predominantly Orthodox country. Pope John Paul then welcomed Patriarch Teoctist to the Vatican in 2002. The exchange of visits, Pope Benedict said, "will remain in the memory of our churches as a particular gift of God's grace, which strengthened and gave new impulse to the growing friendship and improving fraternal relations between the churches." "Both men were filled with a determination to write a new page in the history of our communities, overcoming a difficult past which still burdens us today, and looking forward with confidence to the day when the divisions among followers of Christ will be overcome," the pope said. The patriarch was elected head of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1986.