The headquarters of the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports is visited today at 10 am by the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Mr. Jerome.
Report office ope.gr
His Beatitude will make his first visit to the Ministry of Education under the leadership of the Minister Mr. Kyriakou Pierrakakis. According to the Holy Archdiocese, the meeting will have a ceremonial character.
Read also: At the Ministry of Education tomorrow the Archbishop – First visit since Pierrakakis days, message about the attacks on politicians
Relations with the Prime Minister come out of “austerity”.
However, the interests in the developments of Church-State relations became known on Monday evening when the news was released that Archbishop Ieronymos will visit on Friday, April 26, together with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Delesi, where structures of the Holy Archdiocese are based, such as the Gerontology Center and Nurseries.
Photo: Archive
This will be the first joint appearance of the Archbishop-Prime Minister after the “austerity” of relations that resulted from the passage of the same-sex marriage bill that brought displeasure to the Church. In fact, a large number of Hierarchs had expressed their opposition to the legislative initiative, while also expressing their dissatisfaction with the treatment of the Church by the State, culminating in the Prime Minister’s statement from the floor of the Parliament “or papas papas or zeugas zeugas”!
The first four and the fermentations
It is recalled that the first meeting between the Archbishop and the Prime Minister, after the passing of the bill, took place last Tuesday, April 16, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in the context of the 9th International Conference “Our Ocean”, in the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Bartholomew. After the first four and after intense fermentation in the last period for a meeting between the two sides, the goal was achieved for the government which, even in view of the European elections, wants to close fronts that burden it, such as the one with the Church.
To these ferments I came to add incidents of attacks on politicians who voted for the bill from which the Church wants to take clear distances. The first statement came from the Archbishop himself who in his statements yesterday he emphasized that the Church does not take revenge, but loves. At the same time, he also sent a message that the Church is not retreating from its positions.
It is expected with interest to see, however, how the initiative of the joint meeting will be interpreted by Hierarchs and this because in many local communities the reactions to the law on “gay marriage” remain strong, both from clergy and believers.
Photo: Nikos Papachristou
Main photo: Ministry of Education
Tags: Archbishop Hieronymos Ministry Education today leads joint visit Mitsotakis Friday Delesi
