On the occasion of the Nuclear Security Summit that took place in Seoul, the president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, met the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, who announced him that the Theological Faculty of Halki will reopen. The news, relayed by the Greek news agency Romfea.gr, has been posted today by lots of websites of the Orthodox Patriarchates. According to Romfea.gr, President Obama congratulated Prime Minister Erdogan “on the efforts made in Turkey to defend religious minorities”, adding that he is personally happy about the reopening of the faculty of Halki. Then, the news was confirmed by the Greek agency amen.gr. Last Friday, the Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I met George Papandreou, former Greek Prime Minister and current president of the Socialist International, to whom the Patriarch said that “the few remaining legal obstacles to the reopening of Halki will be solved by the revision of the Constitution, which should be finished by the end of this year”, so hopefully the school might reopen by early 2013. The seminary of Halki was closed down by the Turkish authorities in 1971, following a ruling of the Constitutional Court that voided some paragraphs of Act 625 about private teaching systems. (continued)

27/03/2012 -