Pope Francis received Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni at the Vatican on Monday, March 27. The meeting follows the reunification ceremony which took place on last Friday in Athens, seeing the three fragments of the Parthenon that had been preserved for more than two centuries in the Vatican Museums returned to Athens and the Acropolis Museum.
Minister Mendoni presented the Pope with a letter from the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, thanking him for his important decision to donate the three fragments of the Parthenon to Archbishop Hieronymos.
Following his apostolic journey to Cyprus and Greece in December 2021, Pope Francis announced his decision to donate to the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Athens, His Beatitude Ieronymos II, the three fragments of the Parthenon.
During his 45 minute meeting with Ms Mendoni, the Pontiff expressed his endless respect for Greece, as the cradle of Western Civilisation, highlighting his relationship with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
As a token of gratitude, the Greek Culture Minister presented the Pope with the ‘Refugee’ replica of a 1st century BC marble statue (known as ‘To prosygaki’), made by ODAP, especially for the Pope to reflect his love for children and his constant efforts to better the conditions refugees face worldwide.
The original statue of the ‘Refugee’ was unveiled in August 1922 in Gerontiko of Nyssa, Smyrna by archaeologist Konstantinos Kourouniotis who managed to salvage the find himself during the first days of the destruction of Smyrna.
