“Dialogue is not an optional choice, it is an evangelical obligation”

Welcoming address by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, on July 6, 2025, in Phanar on the occasion of the visit of the young people of session 5, Environment and Development.

 » Your Eminence, dear Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille and President of the Conference of Bishops of France,

Dear fathers,

Dear pilgrims of peace,

Beloved children in the Lord,

It is with immense joy that we welcome you today to this holy and sacred place that is the Phanar, the spiritual center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the beating heart of a Church that for almost two millennia has borne witness, despite the vicissitudes of history, to the light of the Risen Christ. Your presence here, at the end of a Mediterranean odyssey symbolizing peace, hope, and fraternity, is for us a true sign of the times. It is an encouragement, a consolation, and a call. It is with profound gratitude that we salute the inspired initiative of the MED25 – Bel Espoir odyssey, which brought these young pilgrims of peace to the Phanar. By choosing to travel the shores of the Mediterranean, not as a border, but as a place of encounter and dialogue, you powerfully demonstrate that peace is possible—and that it begins with concrete commitment, mutual respect, and the courage of friendship. Your pilgrimage, following the intuitions of the Jesuit Father Michel Jaouen, is a living sign of the Gospel on the move, a luminous testimony of fraternity in the service of unity between peoples, cultures and Churches.

Indeed, dear young people, your approach is a sign of hope. You remind us, through your commitment, that the world needs builders of peace, sowers of hope, witnesses to reconciliation in Christ. You came by sea, like the ancient pilgrims, carrying in your hearts a thirst for God and the desire to reach out to your neighbor. Through this unique approach, you remind us that true peace cannot be achieved without hope, without dialogue, without patient and sincere listening.

The Mother Church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has always served this mystery of encounter. Like our Lord Jesus Christ, who lowered himself to us in order to raise us up, we believe that all true dialogue is an act of kenosis, an act of love, an act of hope.

THE Dialogue is not an optional choice, it is an evangelical obligation. This is not a luxury reserved for theologians, but a Christian duty inscribed in the very heart of our vocation as baptized persons. For how can we claim to love God, whom we do not see, if we do not love our brother, our sister, whom we do see? (cf. 1 Jn 4:20)

It is in this spirit that we have been committed for several decades to a authentic and courageous ecumenical dialogue, especially with our sister Church in Rome. We do this not out of strategy or weakness, but out of fidelity to the will of Christ himself, who prayed “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). We do this in the profound conviction that what unites us is far greater than what separates us. We do it also because the future and witness of Christianity in this fractured world depend on our ability to walk together, to witness together, and to serve together.

We give thanks to God for the progress made in this dialogue. Since the historic meeting of Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964, a long road has been traveled. We ourselves have had the immense grace of meeting on numerous occasions with various bishops of Rome, from Pope John Paul II to Pope Leo XIV, including Popes Benedict XVI and Francis. Together, we have prayed and spoken to the world about peace, respect for creation, and the dignity of the poorest. Together, we have recalled that the Christian faith cannot be an ideology or a closed identity, but a path of life, truth, and love.

Dear young people, today you are privileged witnesses of this rediscovered fraternity. Your presence at the Phanar is not accidental. It is a sign of trust, but also a mission. For you are called to become ecumenical ambassadors of this unity we seek. Unity does not mean a uniformity that would erase our respective riches, but a unity in diversity, founded on love, mutual respect, and the mystery of otherness as experienced in the Divine Trinity.

Allow us to call you to courage: do not be afraid of dialogue. Do not be afraid of your neighbor, even if they pray differently, if they understand God differently. For within every human being dwells a divine spark, a mysterious presence of the One who created us in his image and likeness. Dialogue begins with a look, a gesture, a kind word in which Christ, the Word of God, becomes the bond that unites all things. Dialogue begins when we agree to experience otherness.

In our tense world, marked by so many conflicts—in Ukraine, the Holy Land, the Middle East, and Africa—your witness as young Christians is all the more precious. You come from the shores of the Mediterranean, a sea of light but also of tears. You have sailed where so many men and women have perished in the hope of a better future. As you tread the quays of so many ports, you have heard the cries of distress, but also the songs of solidarity. It is there, in this inner sea of our humanity, that a new page of dialogue between peoples, between religions, between generations is being written today. In 2016, we already said with Pope Francis and His Beatitude Archbishop Jerome of Athens during our joint visit to the island of Lesvos: "As leaders of our respective Churches, we are united in our desire for peace and in our concern to promote the resolution of conflicts through dialogue and reconciliation."

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, faithful to its mission of service and witness, strives to make a prophetic voice heard. We carry in our prayers and in our actions the causes of peace, justice, and the safeguarding of creation. We deeply believe that true ecology is inseparable from a conversion of heart. There can be no peace on earth without respect for the earth. Our relations with the Church of Rome are, here too, a source of joy: especially since the encyclical Laudato Si' of Pope Francis, we walk together to safeguard the common home that God has entrusted to us.

And when you return home, we hope that what you have seen and heard here in Constantinople will not remain a dead letter. Speak and share this experience. Witness to the Church as a place of communion, prayer, and service. Bring the spirit of this pilgrimage to life in your local communities. And above all, pray. Pray for Christian unity. Pray that our Churches, in the image of Christ the servant, may place themselves ever more at the service of the world. Pray that we may recognize in the face of each person the reflection of our one Lord.

We convey our patriarchal blessings to you and pray that your pilgrimage at sea will be a time of grace and peace.

Welcome and God bless you!”