Friday, January 27, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News World News

Pope Francis urges respect for lowly in Athens mass

AFPbyAFP
December 6, 2021, 6:00 am
in World News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

Pope Francis on Sunday urged respect for the "small and lowly" at a holy mass on the second day of his visit to Athens, the first by a pontiff in 20 years.

This handout photograph taken on December 5, 2021 and released by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis holding a Holy Mass at Megaron Athens Concert Hall in Athens. – After returning to Lesbos' island to plead for better treatment of refugees, as attitudes towards migrants harden across Europe, Pope Francis continues his five day trip to Cyprus and Greece. VATICAN MEDIA / AFP

"The Lord likes best what is small and lowly. Redemption did not begin in Jerusalem, Athens or Rome but in the desert," Francis told an exclusive crowd at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall

"God turns his gaze to wherever sadness and loneliness abound," he said.

The message was aimed both at Greece's small Catholic community, and the thousands of migrants and refugees in the country, some of whom Francis had visited on the island of Lesbos earlier on Sunday.

Access to the Athens concert hall was strictly regulated, with police officers checking both invitations and vaccination passes and police vans and metal barriers surrounding the entrance, as a helicopter flew overhead.

ADVERTISEMENT

For security purposes, those attending were encouraged to arrive up to two hours before the event and a nearby subway station was shut.

But even under restrictions, there was a feeling of elation by hundreds of Catholics eager to see Francis. 

"It's wonderful to have the opportunity to attend a Mass by the pope," said Margarita Diakopoulou, originally from Germany, who is married to a Greek and has lived here for the past 50 years.

The 84-year-old's visit to the Greek capital is the first by a pope since John Paul II in 2001, which in turn was the first papal visit to Athens since the 1054 Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

There are over 250,000 Catholic believers in Greece, but the majority are immigrants from Poland, the Philippines, Albania, Ukraine and Middle Eastern and African nations.

Among around 50,000 Catholics of Greek origin, most reside in Athens and many hail from the Cycladic islands and the Ionian, which were once Venetian possessions.

Speaking to members of the community at the Catholic cathedral of St Dionysius the Areopagite on Saturday, Francis urged them not to lose faith.

"Being a minority… does not mean being insignificant," he said, noting that the name of the Apostle Paul, who brought Christianity to Greece, has its roots in the Latin word for 'small'. 

Iosifina Andrioti, a woman in her sixties from the Cycladic island of Tinos, on Sunday said she had attended a Holy Mass by John Paul II in 2001, and has travelled to Rome to see Francis officiate.

'It's a gift'

"I feel the same emotion. I've seen the pope several times in Rome but here, it's different. It's a gift," she said.

"Today is a day of celebration," added Ourania Katrini, a woman in her 70s waiting to enter the hall with a friend.

Both of her children were on the Mass chorus.

"Fanaticism on both sides is slowly disappearing," she said.

In addition to highlighting the plight of refugees, Francis' visit is aimed at improving historically strained relations with the Orthodox Church of Greece.

Orthodox hardliners blame the Catholics for the 1054 Schism and the 1204 sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.

On Saturday, the head of the Orthodox Church of Greece, Archbishop Ieronymos, also said the Catholic church failed to support Greece's 19th century struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Theologians from both sides are holding talks on improving relations.

"We must continue this dialogue in truth and love, with no compromise and intolerance… in the safe certainty that we are not allowed to leave the seamless robe of the Lord divided," Ieronymos said.

Francis stressed the "common roots" of the two churches and followed John Paul in asking for forgiveness "for the mistakes committed by many Catholics".

Dimitris Levantis, a church volunteer helping with crowd management, said it would have been preferable to hold the Mass in a stadium, as organisers did during Francis' visit to Cyprus earlier this week.

Organisers said they had been forced to limit attendance by half owing to Covid-19 safeguards. Only 2,000 people were allowed inside, including 900 in the main concert hall with the pope.

Francis will return to Rome on Monday after a farewell meeting with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and a meeting with pupils at the Saint Dionysius school of the Ursuline sisters in the northern Athens suburb of Maroussi.

Helene Colliopoulou, Clement Melki, John Hadoulis

Tags: AthensGreecePope FrancisVatican
ADVERTISEMENT
AFP

AFP

Related Posts

‘Cali shooter admits guilt, mentally ill’

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 6:25 pm
0
8
‘Cali shooter admits guilt, mentally ill’

Los Angeles—The man accused of killing seven fellow farmworkers in California told a US reporter Thursday that he was guilty...

Read more

Spain port reels after man kills 1, hurts 1 at church

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 6:20 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Algeciras, Spain—The city of Algeciras was united in mourning Thursday, a day after a machete-wielding man stormed two churches, killing...

Read more

German parliament spotlights Nazis’ LGBTQ victims

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 6:15 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Berlin—The German parliament will for the first time on Friday focus its annual Holocaust memorial commemorations on people persecuted and...

Read more

Ex-paratrooper set to sweep
Czech prexy vote vs. ex-PM

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 6:10 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Prague—Retired NATO general Petr Pavel looks a clear favourite to beat billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis in the Czech...

Read more

Tough new rules for Myanmar political parties

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 6:05 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Yangon -- Myanmar’s junta on Friday gave political parties two months to re-register under a strict new electoral law written...

Read more

Thai ruling party names deputy PM as main poll bet

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 6:00 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Bangkok—Thailand’s ruling party on Friday named Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan as its candidate to be premier in the kingdom’s...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Ginebra posts breakthrough 3×3 PBA win
  • Pueblo Golf hosts JGFP’s 2nd Mindanao leg
  • NCAA men’s volley champ Perpetual stuns NU in PUVL
  • Serna, Cabaral seek to stop Baisa’s PPS tennis run
  • AF Payments launches booking solution for buses
  • Hive ransomware: Modern, efficient business model
  • H&M earnings hit by Russia exit, higher production costs
  • UK regulators set to examine manufacturers’ ‘green’ claims

Advertisement

Latest News

Hive ransomware: Modern, efficient business model

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 8:20 pm
0
8
Hive ransomware: Modern, efficient business model

by Paul Handley WASHINGTON—The US Justice Department’s shutdown Thursday of the Hive ransomware operation —which extorted some $100 million from...

Read more

H&M earnings hit by Russia exit, higher production costs

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 8:15 pm
0
8
Banaag assumes post as Bright Kindle director

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—H&M reported on Friday a big drop in profits in 2022, with an unexpected loss in the fourth quarter...

Read more

UK regulators set to examine manufacturers’ ‘green’ claims

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 8:10 pm
0
8
Banaag assumes post as Bright Kindle director

LONDON—UK regulators said Thursday they would review “green” claims made by the makers of a range of everyday consumer goods...

Read more

Swedish elevator maker Kone plans to axe 1,000 jobs on slower orders

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 8:05 pm
0
8
Banaag assumes post as Bright Kindle director

HELSINKI, Finland—Finnish elevator giant Kone announced Thursday planned restructuring that would result in around 1,000 jobs cut globally, as the...

Read more

New Mitsubishi Xpander Cross
has crossed its way to PH shores

byManila Standard
January 27, 2023, 8:00 pm
0
8
Outdoor Expo North 2023 set this February

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) officially unveils the much-anticipated 23MY New Mitsubishi Xpander Cross. A modern 7- seater MPV Crossover...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App