At the conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year of the Armenian Theological Seminary, a gathering was held to celebrate the successful culmination of the academic year as well as the ordination of one of its graduates. This event took place on June 8, 2025, at the fratery, presided over by His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), with the Cilician Brotherhood and the seminary community in attendance.

On June 8, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), presided over the Ramsho Prayer at St. Gabriel Church in Norrkoping.

His Holiness was accompanied by their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Youhanon Lahdo, Archbishop of Sweden and Scandinavia, and Mor Augeen Al-Khoury Nemat, Patriarchal Secretary.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV meets with his Pontifical Representatives across the globe, and urges them to bear witness to the Church’s love for the world and her desire to do anything possible to stand on the side of those in need.

By Devin Watkins

Apostolic Nuncios and other papal representatives deployed throughout the world met with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican on Tuesday.

As other Popes have done at their first meeting with their diplomatic representatives, His Holiness Pope Leo gifted each with a ring symbolizing their bond to the Successor of Peter, which bears the inscription “sub umbra Petri”.

On June 8, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), celebrated the Holy Qurobo on the occasion of the Feast of the Pentecost at St. Mary Church in Orebro.

His Holiness was assisted by their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Dioscorus Benjamin Atas, Patriarchal Vicar in Sweden, Mor Youhanon Lahdo, Archbishop of Sweden and Scandinavia, and Mor Augeen Al-Khoury Nemat, Patriarchal Secretary.

On June 7, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), consecrated St. Matta Church in Halmstadt - Sweden.

His Holiness was assisted by their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Dioscorus Benjamin Atas, Patriarchal Vicar in Sweden, Mor Youhanon Lahdo, Archbishop of Sweden and Scandinavia, Mor Timotheos Mousa Al-Shamani, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Monastery of Mor Matta, and Mor Augeen Al-Khoury Nemat, Patriarchal Secretary.

His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided, on Monday June 9th, the Liturgy of the Feast of the Holy Spirit, a major holiday which is usually celebrated the Monday after Sunday of Pentecost.

Towards the end of the Liturgy, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III delivered the following speech to commemorate the Feast:

“Your Eminences,
Your Graces,
Dear Archimandrite Vassian,
Dear Fathers,
Beloved Monastics,
Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

We greet you with great joy on this blessed feast, when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As we keep this feast we recall some words of a beautiful prayer to the Holy Spirit of Saint Simeon the New Theologian:

Come, true light.
Come, life eternal.
Come, Alone to the alone.
Come, for you are yourself the desire that is within me.
Come, my breath and my life.
Come, the consolation of my humble soul.
Come, my joy, my glory, my endless delight.

We rejoice today in the gift of the Holy Spirit, for it is by the gift of the Holy Spirit that the Church is grounded and maintained in unity…

On Sunday, 26 May / 8 June 2025, the Patriarchate celebrated the Sunday of Pentecost, in accordance with the Book of Pentecostarion, as the day commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the holy Disciples and Apostles of Christ. On this day, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles spoke “in other tongues the wonderful works of God” to the multitudes who had heard the mighty wind of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, believed, and were baptised—those who were added to the Church on that very day, about “three thousand souls” (Acts 2:1–41).

On the occasion of this Feast, His Beatitude Theophilos III, Greak Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the Divine Liturgy at the All-Holy and Life-Giving Tomb of the Lord.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for officials of the Roman Curia on the Jubilee of the Holy See, and recalls that the Apostolic See draws its fruitfulness from Jesus Christ and the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

By Devin Watkins

As the Church marks the Jubilee of the Holy See, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV spent Monday morning with employees and officials of the Roman Curia.

The Jubilee began with a meditation offered by Sr. Maria Gloria Riva, a Sister of the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady. The Pope then carried a Jubilee cross and led a procession of Holy See officials through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.

During the Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV recalls how the Holy Spirit accomplished 'something extraordinary' in the lives of the Apostles, and suggests that today, the Holy Spirit likewise descends upon us, ready to shatter our inner chains, fears, and hardened hearts, to make us new.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"Today, too, what took place in the Upper Room takes place anew in our midst.  Like a mighty wind that overtakes us, like a crash that startles us, like a fire that illuminates us, the gift of the Holy Spirit descends upon us."

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV meets with participants in the Symposium “Nicaea and the Church of the Third Millennium: Towards Catholic-Orthodox Unity," and highlights the many aspects that unite Christians, as the Church celebrates the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark made a phone call this evening to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV of the Vatican to congratulate him on his new responsibility and his election as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

On June 7, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), visited the construction site of the Holy Cross Monastery in Sweden and inspected the ongoing work of construction of the new building for the Monastery.

On June 6, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), celebrated the Holy Qurobo at St. Mary Church in Tensta, Stockholm.

On Saturday, June 7, 2025, His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over a solemn Mass in celebration of the Jubilee of Families, organized by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem as part of the ongoing spiritual and pastoral initiatives for the Jubilee Year 2025 in the Holy Land.

On Sunday morning, June 1, 2025, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) presided over the Divine Liturgy at St. Jacob’s Church in Kokkinia, Greece, celebrated by His Grace Bishop Dajad Ashekian. Thanksgiving prayers were offered to honor the 30th anniversary of His Holiness’ tenure, led by His Eminence Archbishop Shahan Sarkissian, director of the Cilicia Library.

On June 5, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, arrived to Stockholm for his apostolic visit to Sweden.

Jn 14:15-16,23-26

In the history of salvation, the Spirit of the Lord has intervened time and again, especially in the most difficult times, to bring salvation, to work deliverance, to show God’s intervention in the complex stories of humanity. He has descended on weak people and made them leaders of his people, he has spoken through prophets, he has brought withered bones back to life, he is a dynamic force that always gives power and strength.

In each of these events, whenever the Spirit became present, he made a new beginning possible.

On Tuesday, 21st May / 3rd June 2025, the Patriarchate commemorated the memory of the Holy, Glorious, and Great Divinely-Crowned Sovereigns and Equals-to-the-Apostles, Saints Constantine and Helen, at their Patriarchal and Monastic Church in Jerusalem. The Divine Liturgy was presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Kyrios Kyrios Theophilos III, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, with the Overseer of the Church Order, Archimandrite Alexios and the presiding priests of the church concelebrating with him. Also in attendance in prayer were Hierarchs, Hieromonks, and Monks of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, together with faithful Christians of Jerusalem.

On May 31, 2025, an official banquet took place at the Marriott Hotel in Athens to honor the 30th anniversary of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)’s enthronement as Catholicos. The event brought together members of the Greek Armenian community and representatives from the Greek Orthodox Church.