Ailing leader of Greece's Orthodox Church hospitalized
0 Comments Published by georgy on Wednesday, December 5 at 1:34 PM.
The ailing leader of Greece's Orthodox Church was hospitalized for tests Monday as doctors re-evaluated his cancer treatment, the Archbishop's office said.
Archbishop Christodoulos, 68, was diagnosed with cancer in June. He spent 10 weeks in a hospital in Miami but a planned liver transplant was aborted when the cancer was found to have spread.
His office did not say how long he was expected to remain in hospital.
Elected church leader in 1998, Christodoulos often stirred controversy with politically tinged statements.
He was also instrumental in attempts to improve ties with the Catholic Church. In 2001, he received Pope John Paul II in Athens _ the first pope to visit Greece in nearly 1,300 years _ ignoring loud protests from Orthodox hardliners.
He followed up last year with a historic visit to the Vatican, where he and Pope Benedict XVI signed a joint declaration calling for inter-religious dialogue and restating opposition to abortion and euthanasia.
Nearly all of Greece's 11 million people have been baptized Orthodox. There are more than 200 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, the second-largest Christian group in the world behind the Roman Catholic Church.
Source
Archbishop Christodoulos, 68, was diagnosed with cancer in June. He spent 10 weeks in a hospital in Miami but a planned liver transplant was aborted when the cancer was found to have spread.
His office did not say how long he was expected to remain in hospital.
Elected church leader in 1998, Christodoulos often stirred controversy with politically tinged statements.
He was also instrumental in attempts to improve ties with the Catholic Church. In 2001, he received Pope John Paul II in Athens _ the first pope to visit Greece in nearly 1,300 years _ ignoring loud protests from Orthodox hardliners.
He followed up last year with a historic visit to the Vatican, where he and Pope Benedict XVI signed a joint declaration calling for inter-religious dialogue and restating opposition to abortion and euthanasia.
Nearly all of Greece's 11 million people have been baptized Orthodox. There are more than 200 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, the second-largest Christian group in the world behind the Roman Catholic Church.
Source
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