Deputy Foreign Minister Markos Bolaris mentioned the importance of the role of the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece and its cooperation with the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Rome as well as the meetings he had with Pope Francis with the Apostoliki Diakonia delegation.
In an interview for ANA-MPA, Markos Bolaris said that for 15 years, the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece has funded a program for the Greek language at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
Referring to the importance of this program of learning Greek, the Deputy Minister welcomed the initiative of the Apostoliki Diakonia and stressed that Pope Francis “fully acknowledges the importance of this bridge, which can be extended to educational, cultural and, more generally, creative issues.”
Regarding today’s meeting with the Vatican’s Undersecretary for Relations with States, Bishop Camilleri, Markos Bolaris told that the debate was extended to the excellent prospects for developing cultural co-operation with the Vatican.
According to the Deputy Foreign Minister “the aim is to have cooperation at the cultural level, in particular in arts, between Greece and the Vatican, Greece, the Vatican and Turkey, but also to have cooperation with Israel, Romania or Egypt “.
Referring, finally, to the discussion with Pope Francis, in which the delegation of the Apostoliki Diakonia participated, Markos Bolaris stated that the Pope wished all the best to Greece and the Greek people. He also referred to his visit to Lesbos, along with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Archbishop of Athens, in the past years to call the attention to the humanitarian crisis. It was an initiative that highlighted the problem and certainly helped to call the attention in order that the international community can feel the intensity of the problem on the Greek islands.”
