[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 150 (Monday, September 15, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WELCOMING ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. HIMES

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 15, 2025

  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome His All-Holiness 
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the United States.
  His first visit since 2021, he joins us on his eighth Apostolic trip 
to our country during which he will receive the prestigious Templeton 
Prize for his environmental advocacy.
  The ``Green Patriarch's'' landmark 1997 speech in Santa Barbara--in 
which he first posited the notion of ecological sin--is striking for 
how revolutionary it was then, and how prescient it remains today. In 
particular, one line from His All-Holliness' remarks 28 years ago 
struck me as worthy of meditating upon in the tumultuous times in which 
we find ourselves.
  In his speech, His All-Holliness offers the following: ``we lovingly 
suggest to all the people of the earth, that they seek to help one 
another to understand the myriad ways in which we are related to the 
earth, and to one another.
  Now, perhaps more than any time in my recollection, that call to 
engage with one another, identify our commonalities, eschew clinging to 
our differences, and help--how we can, where we can--feels vital to the 
moral health of the American people and the long-term viability of our 
global environment.
  On behalf of the Eastern Orthodox Christian community of Southwestern 
Connecticut, I would like to extend my congratulations to His All-
Holiness for his Templeton Prize; it is a well-deserved acknowledgement 
of his years of advocacy. I hope his trip is a success and that he 
enjoys his time in the United States.

                          ____________________