Pope Francis has decided to return three pieces of the Parthenon to Greece in a move that could increase pressure on the UK government, which is adamant about its own collection of Parthenon marbles. The comeback, announced on Friday, is expected to take some time to play out.
It is not the only repatriation agreement that Greece has reached this year. In January, a small museum in Palermo, Sicily, decided to return its only Parthenon fragment on a loan that Greek authorities hope will extend indefinitely.
Announcing the decision, the Vatican called the gesture a “donation” by Francis to His Beatitude Ieronymos II, the Orthodox Christian Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, saying it was “a concrete sign of his sincere desire to follow the path ecumenical”. for real.”
The Greek Ministry of Culture and the Acropolis Museum welcomed the move.
Pope Francis and Archbishop Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece, on December 6, 2021.
(Photo by Vatican Media/Pool/Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
POPE FRANCIS’ ORDER OF JESUITS ASKS VICTIMS TO SUE AGAINST JESUIT ARTIST ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE
The Vatican statement suggested that the Holy See wanted to make it clear that its donation was not a bilateral state-to-state return, but rather a religiously inspired donation from a pope to a primate. The intention may be to avoid a precedent that could affect other priceless possessions in the Vatican Museums.
Francis last met Ieronymos in 2021 in Athens, where he called for greater unity between Catholics and Orthodox. At the time, Francis “shamefully” acknowledged the “mistakes” the Catholic Church had inflicted on others over the centuries, actions he said “were marked by a thirst for advantage and power.”
Pope Francis made a similar ecumenical gift in 2019. According to the Catholic News Agency, the Pope gave the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople a relic of Saint Peter as “a confirmation of the path that our Churches have taken to get closer to one another .
UK GOVERNMENT RULES OUT LAW CHANGE TO RETURN MARBLE FROM PARTHENON TO GREECE AFTER ‘SECRET’ MEETINGS
The three fragments, held by the Vatican since the 19th century, consist of a relief with a child’s head, a bearded male head and a part of a horse’s head. The boy’s head was previously ceded to Greece in 2008.
The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC. C. as a temple of the goddess Athena and its marbles are considered the pinnacle of Greek sculpture.
Greece still has high hopes for the return of the Parthenon marbles that reside in the British Museum in London. Following reports of “secret” repatriation meetings between Museum Chairman George Osborne and Greek officials, the UK government has confirmed it has no plans to change the law to facilitate their return.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
