The delegation of the Vatican, which is in Greece at the ceremony of reunification of the fragments, met Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Jerome.

Welcoming the members of the delegation from the Vatican, Archbishop Jerome expressed his emotions and joy in connection with the delivery of three fragments from the Vatican Museums to the Acropolis Museum.

The archbishop emphasized that “the events that will follow and that we will experience today are events that filled the hearts of all Greeks with joy. The heroic decision of the primate of the Roman Catholic Church to donate a treasure that may seem small, but is a great gift for all of us, leaves us indebted.”

In fact, he noted that “the hill of the Acropolis and the temple of the Parthenon are points that shake the history and path of everyone in this place.”

He also reiterated his excitement at Pope Francis’s gesture to return the fragments and added: “We particularly appreciate the decision of the Roman Catholic Church to offer to my humble face the fragments, which we also willingly made available to the Greek State for display in the Acropolis Museum.”

Elsewhere, Archbishop Jerome mentioned the problems we are facing and noted: “I believe that our Christianity, our teaching, our faith can help solve them.” “In addition, the leaders of the Churches are called to look not at what separates us, but at what unites us,” he said.

The delegation is led by Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Vatican Commission for Promoting Christian Unity, as well as members of the Deputy Secretary of the Commission, Fr. Andrea Palmieri, Professor Dr. Barbara Giatta, Director of the Vatican Museums, and Archbishop Jan Romeo Pavlovsky, Nuncio of the Vatican. in Greece.

The meeting was also attended by the Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, Bishop Philotheos of Oreon, Proto-Council of the Archdiocese, Archimandrite Barnabas Theoharis, General Hierarchal Commissioner Archimandrite Jacob Andriopulos, an employee of the Synodal Committee for Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations, Father Emmanuel Papamikrulis, and Archdeacon Father Ioannis Butsis.

The head of the delegation, Bishop Brian Farrell, conveyed the greetings of Pope Francis and noted the highly symbolic value of the fragments provided by the Vatican Museum.

“True, no one could have imagined what satisfaction this initiative would bring to the Greek people, and we are deeply touched by our participation in this historic event,” the bishop noted and added: “The value of contacts between the Churches is the most important. I also want to emphasize the desire to be the main actors and representatives of the idea of ​​cooperation between us.”

The official reunion ceremony of the three fragments took place at the Acropolis Museum.

This ceremony concludes the initiative of Pope Francis to present these three fragments to the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, which follows the implementation of the agreement signed in the Vatican Museums on March 7, 2023 between the representatives of the Pope and the Archbishop, for the transfer of the sculptures to the representative of the Archbishop and then to the Director of the Acropolis Museum.