Friday, Pope Francis landed in Georgia to a surprisingly warm welcome from Patriarch Ilia of Georgia. Although this was the official line, there were scattered protests from laity and priests in the staunchly Orthodox country.
Despite the nice greeting, the Patriarchate stated on its website that as there are doctrinal differences between Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church of Georgia, the Orthodox faithful should not participate in the Papal Liturgy.
When Pope Francis had Mass in the Capital of Tbilisi, what was noteworthy was the crowd, or lack thereof. It should be noted that the Catholic Community is only 2.5-3% of the population, with roughly 1% of the population being Latin Rite. Participating was only a crowd of only 3,000 in a stadium capable of holding eight times that. The lack of any real presence of Orthodox believers was apparent, as was the small number of Catholic believers. The official delegation of the Orthodox Church unexpectedly did not show up either.
After the Mass, the Pope and Patriarch met at the Patriarchal See of Svietyskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral in the historic former capital of Mtskheta where friendly greetings and statements were read.
And so it goes with ecumenism – a step forward, a step backward, a step forward.
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