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Pope returns Greece's Parthenon Sculptures in ecumenical nod

George Vitsaras/AP

FILE - Pope Francis meets Archbishop of Athens and leader of Greece's Orthodox Church, Ieronymos II at the Orthodox archbishopric in Athens, Greece, on Dec. 4, 2021. Pope Francis has decided to send back to Greece the three fragments of Parthenon Sculptures that the Vatican Museums have held for centuries, the Vatican announced Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. The Vatican termed the gesture a “donation” from the pope to His Beatitude Ieronymos II, the Orthodox Christian archbishop of Athens and all Greece, “as a concrete sign of his sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth.” (George Vitsaras/Pool Photo via AP)

By: Associated Press

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has decided to give back to Greece the three fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures that the Vatican Museums have held for centuries.

The Vatican on Friday termed the gesture a “donation” from the pope to His Beatitude Ieronymos II, the Orthodox Christian archbishop of Athens and all Greece.

The Vatican said it was “a concrete sign of his sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth.”

The Vatican thus becomes the latest Western state to return to Greece its fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures. The British Museum has rebuffed repeated Greek requests to return its own much larger collection of the works.

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