Obama issues message on seminary after Bartholomew talks

“President Obama warmly welcomed the Ecumenical Patriarch to the White House this morning. The President reinforced our support for the mission of the Ecumenical Patriarch, a leader of global standing, and for the reopening of the Halki Seminary in Istanbul. He also took the opportunity to reiterate the U.S. commitment to confronting global climate change and to applaud the Ecumenical Patriarch for his work on global interfaith dialogue,” said a White House statement released after the meeting.

Bartholomew is the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world. Ankara rejects Bartholomew’s use of the title “ecumenical,” or universal, arguing instead that the patriarch is merely the spiritual leader of İstanbul’s dwindling Orthodox community.

Tuesday’s meeting was the second meeting between Bartholomew and Obama. The US president had talks with the İstanbul-based patriarch during a landmark official visit to Turkey in April.

Turkey closed the Halki Seminary in 1971 during a period of tension with Greece over Cyprus and a crackdown on religious education that also included Muslim religious schools.

The patriarch arrived in the United States on Oct. 20 for a symposium on restoring balance to the Mississippi River, including a discussion of the ravages of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. He also visited New York, where he met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Atlanta.

Speaking to Fox News following his meeting with Obama, Bartholomew said he was scheduled to meet with US Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday. He was also due to meet with congressional leaders on Wednesday.

“This is an honor for us, for our church, and it is a concrete sign of the respect the American administration has for institutions with a long history and valuable service to human kind such as the ecumenical patriarchate,” Bartholomew told Fox News. “The ecumenical patriarchate is not simply a religious center, a center creating civilization. It has contributed much to European culture and civilization. It is there. We must not forget it. It is there in İstanbul, the former Constantinople for 17 entire centuries. This interest of the White House is well understood.”