Ecumenical Patriarch confers an honorary doctorate from the Vatican University –translated

The Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew was awarded an honorary doctor of theology this morning by the University "San Tommaso d'Aquino-Angelicum", which is located in the center of Rome and belongs to the Holy See. The Prime Minister of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was also present at the ceremony, along with many other senior clergy of the Catholic Church.

In his statement to APE-MPE, immediately after the end of the ceremony, His Holiness underlined, among others:

"I am happy and excited to be once again in Rome, where I studied for three years in my youth and did my Ph.D. It was the period in which the Second Vatican Council was meeting, a particularly interesting period from the ecclesiastical point of view. I had the privilege, as a scholarship of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, to study in the Italian capital. Since then, I have returned many times, both in the capacity of Metropolitan and Patriarch, starting my patriarchal visits in 1995, when John Paul II was Pope. And with him and his successors, Benedict and Francis and now Pope Leo XIV, we have an excellent...