Source: Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, welcomes increased numbers, moves toward unity Deborah Castellano Lubov, OSV Newsweekly When he traveled to the southern Italian city of Bari in Puglia on July 7, to attend the unprecedented ecumenical meeting summoned by Pope Francis, his holiness Pope Tawadros II represented the largest Christian Church for the entire Middle East. Yet, the number of Christians in the Middle East has plummeted. It was “a very successful meeting,” said the highest-ranking leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, “a great opportunity for Church leaders to meet and…
Pope Francis, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the Orthodox churches, attend an ecumenical prayer service at the Church of St. Peter in Cairo April 28, 2017. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople plans to grant independence to Christians in the Ukraine, many of whom have been linked to the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate.(CNS photo/Paul Haring)
