A senior Catholic priest in Greece has warned of growing hostility to his church in the run-up to a visit by Pope John Paul next month.
Father Dominikos Psaltis, administrator of the Catholic cathedral in Athens, added that most Catholic clergy in Greece believed the papal pilgrimage should be postponed because of disputes between the Athens government and the nation's biggest church, the (Orthodox) Church of Greece.
"Some Orthodox Christians want to see the Pope here, but they are clearly in the minority—even Greeks with no interest in ecclesiastical affairs are against this visit," Psaltis, 68, said in a telephone interview from Athens.
"Though formally accepting the visit, Orthodox priests and bishops are firmly opposed to it in practice. By present indications, we can only expect negative results."
Preparations for Pope John Paul's pilgrimage on May 4 and 5, his first to Greece, are already under way. Psaltis said that pressure on the country's 200,000-member Catholic minority had increased because of the forthcoming visit. Police were regularly removing graffiti from Catholic places of worship, he said.
"It defies the imagination what is being said against the Pope here in daily television broadcasts—as well as against the Catholic Church generally, and the theories of papal primacy and infallibility," Father Psaltis said. "I wonder if previous popes such as John XXIII or Paul VI would have come, knowing what was being stated about them. In these circumstances, it would be much better for the Pope to postpone his visit."
Plans for the brief pilgrimage by Pope John Paul, who hopes to visit the place in Athens where St Paul preached, have been under way since January, when Greece's President Costis Stefanopoulos told the 80-year-old Roman pontiff that he would be "welcome at any time."
After much criticism of plans for the visit, the Church of Greece's synod said on March 5 that John Paul was free to visit "as a pilgrim" rather than as head of the Roman Catholic Church. About 97 percent of Greece's 10.2 million citizens are members of the Church of Greece.
Opposition to the pilgrimage remains strong among Orthodox clergy. The Hellenic Priests' Association, grouping about 8,000 Orthodox parish priests, recently described the Pope as an "arch-heretic," and promised mass demonstrations against "the two-horned, grotesque monster of Rome."
On March 23, the head of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Christodoulos, said John Paul II was the first pope to have shown "serious signs of apologizing" for "errors committed by the Roman Catholic Church," but needed to take "many further steps."
Orthodox sources have said that Archbishop Christodoulos will not join President Stefanopoulos when he welcomes Pope John Paul at Athens airport, and would only meet him if John Paul asked to visit Orthodox headquarters.
A Church of Greece spokesperson, Haris Konidaris, told ENI that the Eastern Catholic churches, which have Eastern liturgy but are linked to Rome, would be one of several topics raised at "informal courtesy talks" with John Paul II in Athens.
He added that his church's 58-member synod would discourage street protests during Pope John Paul's visit, but added that responsibility for "avoiding problems" rested "with the state which has issued the invitation."
"Symbolically, this visit will be a step towards unity," Konidaris said. "But it won't affect ecumenical relations, since reconciliation depends in practice on the solution of theological and dogmatic issues."
Controversy over the papal visit coincides with attempts by the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Costis Simitis to amend the laws of Greece, whose constitution declares Orthodoxy to be the "dominant religion." Among other disputes, Orthodox church leaders are campaigning to overturn a July 2000 law scrapping declaration of religion on all citizens' identity cards. The church also opposes government plans to abolish the swearing of oaths on the Bible.
Dominikos Psaltis told ENI he believed Orthodox leaders were "totally preoccupied" with the current conflict, and that the Pope risked being "caught between the state and Orthodox Church" at a time of "deep divisions."
"Naturally, the Pope wants to come as soon as possible, and he will be welcomed with love and respect by Catholics. Yet papal visits aren't made for personal reasons, but for the welfare of church and humanity," Psaltis said. "We understand the Orthodox mentality here—and we understand it more than people who come on working visits of one or two days, and then go away thinking they know better. If someone isn't ready to receive you, it's better not to come."
However, the world's leading Orthodox prelate, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomeos I, who is based at Phanar, Istanbul, has reportedly welcomed news of the papal pilgrimage "with great joy." Visiting southern Italy last month, Patriarch Bartholomeos said he hoped John Paul's visit to Greece would contribute to "dialogue and a spirit of brotherhood."
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