Israeli court OKs Greek Orthodox choice
Israel's High Court of Justice has rejected an appeal to deny recognition of Eirinaios I as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Palestine and Syria.
Justice Dorit Beinisch noted Friday police found no basis for claims of criminal activity, and the witnesses who spoke up seemed unreliable.
The government acted reasonably in trying to respect the Greek Orthodox community's autonomy and not interfere in its election, she concluded.
Balkan Catholic leaders look to cooperation with Orthodox Church
Roman Catholic archbishops from the Balkans have praised the conciliatory stance of Serbia's Orthodox church leader, Patriarch Pavle, and have pledged to step up ties with the war-torn region's Orthodox and Muslim populations.
"The 90-year-old patriarch spoke of the need to be light and salt for Europe, and of the Gospel's radical injunction to pray for and love not only friends but also enemies," Catholic leaders from Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Serbia-Montenegro, Romania and Turkey said in a statement after meeting the patriarch in Belgrade.
