GREETINGS TO ECUMENICAL DELEGATION FROM CHICAGO

VATICAN CITY, FEB 15, 1999 (VIS) - The Pope this morning welcomed an ecumenical delegation from Chicago led by Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, and by His Eminence Iakovos, metropolitan of Chicago of the Greek Orthodox archdiocese of the United States.

"You are making a pilgrimage of faith," he told them, speaking English, "first to Constantinople, sacred to the memory of the Apostle Andrew, and now to Rome, the city sacred to the memory of the Apostles Peter and Paul. ... The regular exchanges between our two Churches and the work of theological dialogue have been important in this process; and joint initiatives such as your pilgrimage help in another way to strengthen the bonds of 'koinonia'."

"Overcoming the misunderstandings of the past," concluded the Pope, "we look in hope to a future when love will be perfect among us and the world will therefore know that we are Christ's disciples."

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