Biden, orthodox patriarch discuss climate, religious freedom

By PETER SMITH
Associated Press

President Joe Biden and the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians discussed ways to fight climate change, end the coronavirus pandemic and the importance of religious freedom during an Oval Office session Monday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met separately with Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken not long after being hospitalized overnight for feeling unwell at the outset of his 12-day visit to the United States. While Bartholomew’s visit was expected to draw attention to the plight of the small Orthodox Christian minority in his homeland of Turkey, he took a diplomatic tone at an earlier breakfast meeting hosted by Turkish Ambassador Hasan Murat Mercan, according to remarks released by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.