(4 Dec 2021) Pope Francis was heckled by an elderly Greek Orthodox priest on Saturday as he arrived for a meeting with the head of the country’s Orthodox Church.
“Pope, you are a heretic!” the priest shouted three times as Francis arrived at the residence of Archbishop Ieronymos in the Greek capital of Athens.
The protester fell to the ground as police led him away, and Francis appeared not to notice as he walked into the residence for his private meeting with the Orthodox leader.
The incident was evidence of the lingering distrust between some Orthodox and Catholics 1,200 years after Christianity was cleaved in half.
It followed small protests against the pope on his previous stop, the island of Cyprus, which is also predominantly Christian Orthodox.
Francis’ state visit to Greece comes 20 years after St. John Paul II made the first such visit to Greece since the Great Schism, and used the occasion to apologise for the sins “by action or omission” committed by Catholics against Orthodox over the centuries.
Francis renewed that apology on Saturday in front of Ieronymos and other Orthodox prelates.
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