Interfaith gathering in Constantinople/Istanbul

On 9 July 2025, at a World Council of Religions for Peace interfaith gathering, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew gave the keynote address, highlighting pressing global challenges and stressing the spiritual foundation necessary for overcoming them.
His All Holiness identified the underlying crisis facing humanity as not merely economic instability or technological advancement but a reductive materialism that ignores the sacred dimension essential to human flourishing.
“We are called, each from the standpoint of their faith, to constitute a global alliance of conscience, a prophetic testimony that will keep open the horizon of transcendence in a world threatened with asphyxiation within the confines of the material.”
Watch his presentation here (follow along with ‘transcript’ function).
World Council of Churches summary here.
*His Holiness Bartholomew is the head of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and holds the title of Ecumenical Patriarch. He is considered the spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians worldwide.