Vice President Joseph Biden, on a
trip last week to Iraq, Turkey and Greece, met in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday with Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. (
White House blog.) According to
Archon News, in a private meeting with the Patriarch, Biden discussed religious freedom in Turkey, the hoped-for reopening of the Theological School on
Halki (see
prior posting), Turkey's accession to the European Union, and the ecological initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.