2. August 2019

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch on an official visit to Slovakia

The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude The Most Blessed Youssef Absi, received the invitation of the Metropolitan of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia, Archbishop Ján Babjak of SJ, and arrived to vitis Slovakia at the beginning of August 2019.

Director of NAPS Institute Peter Solej accompanied representatives of local churches during the program that took place in the Slovak Capital City of Bratislava. Patriarch Absi, accompanied by his host, met with representatives of Slovak ministries of foreign affairs and culture, as well as with the EU Special Envoy for Religious Freedom. The main topics of the talks were the possibilities of mutual cooperation and the position of Christians in the Middle East.

The cooperation of the NAPS Institute with the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate began as early as 2010, when the then Patriarch also participated in the NAPS International Ecumenical Concert, a regular annual activity of the Institute. In 2012, NAPS also became the first foreign partner of Al Liqa’a – the International Dialogue Center – to be built by the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate in Beirut.