News / Greece

‘You are a heretic!’: Greek priest who shouted at Pope taken away by police (Video)

At his meeting with Pope Francis, Archbishop Ieronymos commented on the lack of support by historical Popes to the Greek war of independence: “I do not want to embarrass you but I believe that among people who want to be called brothers and sisters in Christ, the best language is honesty.”

Photos: Eurokinissi/Yiannis Panagopoulos

5 December 2021 1:02pm

Instagram

The protest of an elderly priest came under the spotlight of international coverage of Pope Francis’ meeting with the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Ieronymos.

A widely – circulated video depicts the moment when the Pontiff arrives at the Athens Archdiocese, and a Greek Orthodox priest shouts three times ‘Pope, you are a heretic!’ before being subdued by police.

Follow-up footage shows the priest resisting while taken away by police and later telling a female police one of the officers who removed him from the area: “What did I do? I said that the Pope is an heretic. He should repent. He is unacceptable in Greece”.

The incident reignited international attention to the still existent bitterness among some clergy in Greece about their Catholic counterparts, and the viewing of Catholicism as an ‘heresy’.

Relations between the churches have been rocky for centuries, following the 1054 split of then Christianity into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, known as the Great Schism.

During his meeting with Archbishop Ieronymos, the Pope addressed an apology in the name of the Roman Catholic Church for its part in the historical wrongs that led to the breakup.

“Tragically, in later times we grew apart. Worldly concerns poisoned us, weeds of suspicion increased our distance and we ceased to nurture communion,” he said.

Archbishop Ieronymos presented Pope Francis with a silver icon of the Apostle Paul.

In his address that preceded, the Greek Archbishop commented on the lack of support by historical Popes to the Greek war of independence:

“We believe you have the courage and the sincerity to examine the failures and omissions of your fathers.

“I do not want to embarrass you but I believe that among people who want to be called brothers and sisters in Christ, the best language is honesty.”

Pope Francis arrived in Athens on Saturday for his three-day trip to Greece. He was expected to visit Lesvos on Sunday, where in 2016 he visited the Moria camp and returned to Rome with three Syrian families of refugees.