Patriarch Bartholomew Proposes Creating a “Shared Sacred Worldview” for All Religions

On July 29, 2025, in Istanbul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered a keynote address at the meeting of the World Council of Religions for Peace. In his speech, he called for the formation of a “shared sacred worldview” as a response to the challenges of modern materialistic society. According to the Patriarch, the main threat of our time is “reductionist thinking,” which reduces human life solely to material needs. This was reported by the official website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

“The Sacred is the highest, absolute reality, manifested as God, Allah, Brahman, or Radiant Emptiness,” declared Bartholomew. He explained that this is not about creating a new syncretic religion, but rather about seeking a meta-language that would allow religions to communicate with each other and with the scientific world. According to him, the goal of the new concept is to “translate” sacred truths into a language understandable to the modern person.

“We are not called to create a new global religion of consensus. We are called, each from the perspective of our own faith, to create a worldwide alliance of conscience, a prophetic testimony that will keep open the horizon of the transcendent in a world threatened by suffocation within material boundaries. Our unity is not based on shared convictions, but on our shared love for humanity and our shared appeal to the mystery of the one God. This is the only possible peace,” the Ecumenical Patriarch said in his address.

It is also worth recalling that during the final evening of a pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Patriarch Bartholomew delivered a speech calling for ecclesiastical unity and spiritual witness. He thanked Archbishop Elpidophoros and the accompanying delegation, calling him “a true bearer of hope.”