CHARLIE ROSE, HOST: Welcome to the broadcast. Tonight, a conversation with one of the most important religious figures in the world. He is his All Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. He’s the leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians. We spoke in Atlanta during his current visit to the United States. Tomorrow in Washington he meets with President Obama. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW, ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH: The only message that people of religion like myself could give to the world community is to respect everybody, all human beings as created in the image and likeness of God, and to be of help. Jesus Christ said whatever you do for my smallest, poorest people, brothers, you are doing to me. So he, the Lord, identifies himself with those people. And whatever we do for them, we do for Christ. You can realize our great responsibility. (END VIDEO CLIP) CHARLIE ROSE: An exclusive conversation with his All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHARLIE ROSE: His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is the primary spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian world and the Orthodox Church, which has 300 million members around the world. It includes the churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, and numerous archdioceses in the old and new world. He is the 270th successor of the 2,000-year-old local Christian church founded by St. Andrew the apostle. The Orthodox religion was found in 1054 after a split with a Catholic Church over the primacy of the Pope. The religion quickly spread to Russia, Greece, Eastern Europe, and more recently to the United States. Today Orthodoxy remains one of the most popular forms of Christianity. His all holiness was born in 1940 on the Turkish island of Imbros. His father was a barbershop coffee shop owner. As a young man he enrolled at the renowned theological school of Halki, graduating with high honors in 1961. On October 22, 1991, he was elected the 270th archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch. He was enthroned in the patriarchal cathedral in Penar district of Istanbul. From the beginning he has been on a mission to modernize the church and make it more relevant. Early on he became identified with environmentalism by incorporating it into his spiritual message. He has preached in the spirit of dialogue and understanding among all religions. While there are ecclesiastical differences with the Roman Catholic Church, his all holiness has met with the Pope several times throughout his. He had several meets with John Paul in the 1990s and he also met with Benedict during the Pope’s 2006 visit to Turkey. He’s also met with leaders of all political views around the world, including Fidel Castro and Muammar Qaddafi. His holiness is well known in America, having received the Congressional Gold Medal and met with the past three presidents. He’s is now on his sixth visit to the United States. It began in New Orleans, where he attended an ecological symposium on pollution in the Mississippi River. He then traveled to New York where he met with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Tomorrow in Washington he will meet with President Obama and attend dinners in his honor by the secretary of state and vice president. In 2008 he published a book called "Encounter the Mystery: Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today." I met him with in Atlanta last week at the home of Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca-Cola Company and a Turkish citizen whose father was a distinguished Turkish diplomat. The conversation began with a question about his role as he saw it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHARLIE ROSE: Tell me about your role. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: By the Grace of God I am the first bishop in the whole Orthodox Church worldwide. You may know that in the Orthodox Church we have the principal of the autocephalous churches, that is to say independent churches, which are free to coordinate and organize their internal affairs. The Holy See knows that all these local churches elect their primate, and the role of the ecumenical patriarch as it is the historic title of the patriarch of Constantinople, today Istanbul, is a role of primacy, of honor and love, and a role of coordination among all the orthodox churches throughout the world. We have many examples even from the recent history of our church where this role of coordination, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is quite clear. Also the Ecumenical Patriarchate has a duty to assist, to help the other sister orthodox churches when they have internal problems for the solution of which they need the higher assistance of the first seat of the Holy Orthodox Church. Recently, only a few years ago, we had such cases with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The autocephalous Church of Cyprus, which asked for the assistance, the intervention of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and we offered brotherly assistance with great love. So this is the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch within the Orthodox family. We also coordinate dialogues with the other Christian churches and denominations. In fact, it was on the initiative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that we started almost 25 years ago an official bilateral, theological dialogue with the Church of Rome, with the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, and so on. We have these kinds of dialogues, theological dialogues, I repeat, with all the other Christian brothers and sisters. But 25 years ago the Ecumenical Patriarchate took the initiative to initiate academic dialogues with the other monotheistic religions as well, Israel and Judaism. And we have convoked several conferences, meetings with them, some of them in Istanbul in my seat under the title "Peace and Tolerance." CHARLIE ROSE: You are considered first among equals of the nine patriarchs. Why is there? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: This is out of historical reasons, because Constantinople, today Istanbul, was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. And as such, the ecumenical councils, especially the second one, 381, and the fourth ecumenical council, 451, gave some prerogatives to the Church of Constantinople, which are always valid. And that is why today in the 21st century the same hierarchical order and the same church discipline is valid in the Orthodox family, and all the other sister Orthodox churches do recognize this primacy of love and honor to the church of Constantinople, which primacy is not primacy of domination, of -- or of jurisdiction, but it is a primacy of service. We interpret our primacy as such, as service to the unity of the Orthodox family, and, as I said, to coordinate on Orthodox affairs. CHARLIE ROSE: I want to make this a kind of primer for my audience around the world in terms of understanding Christianity and where Orthodox is within Christiandom and how you see the difference in terms of western and eastern. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: You know that the Great Schism, separation, between Christian east and the Christian west took place in the year 1054. Since we are unfortunately separated in all of the theological dialogues among divided Christians, I mentioned, a, to reestablish this unity between east and west. In the meantime, unfortunately in the Christian west we had another division. I mean Protestant... CHARLIE ROSE: Right. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: ... which left the Roman Catholic Church and formed another church group with several subdivisions, so to say. And our dialogue with them, too, with our Protestant brothers and sisters, say the same sacred goal, the reestablishment of perfect unity. So in the Christian east, which remains without communion with the western Christianity, the Church of Constantinople, the Patriarch of Constantinople became the first. And we have well-established hierarchical order according to which after Constantinople we have the Patriarchate of Antioch and then Jerusalem. And these are the four ancient Patriarchates of the Christian east. And then we have Patriarchates of Eastern Europe -- Russia, Serbia, Romania, and so on. And after they have we have autocephalous, independent Orthodox churches, which do not bear the title of a Patriarchate. Russia and all other sister churches which are autocephalous today until the 16th century were under the jurisdiction of Constantinople. In the 16th century Russia became autocephalous, independent, and much later churches, the other church in the Balkans became also autocephalous churches. Some say "ethnic churches." I don’t like this term. I would like local -- I would like to say local independent or autocephalous churches, because orthodoxy must not be identified with ethnicities. Orthodoxy is must be open to everybody. CHARLIE ROSE: Are there doctrinal differences? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: No. Between -- among the Orthodox, local Orthodox churches there is not any doctrinal... CHARLIE ROSE: And between the west and between Pope Benedict and... ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Yes. Pope Benedict, the main difference between us is the primacy of the Pope, the primacy of the bishop of Rome within the context of the whole Christian church. According to the belief, the interpretation of the Roman Catholic Church, this primacy is a primacy jure divino, given by God. And it gives to the Pope as such jurisdiction all over the Christian world. According to the interpretation of our Orthodox Church, this primacy of the bishop of Rome is exactly as it is today the primacy of the Church of Constantinople within the Orthodox family. Now in the framework of our theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, the main issue under the liberation -- under discussion is precisely the matter of the issue of primacy. Only a few days ago we had on the island of Cyprus the meeting of the International Mixed Commission between Orthodox and Catholics, and they continued on the basis of prepared drafts, texts. They discussed the issue of the primacy of the Pope. Of course this is a difficult question, the main question of which differentiates Rome and Orthodoxy. And this dialogue, with good will and mutual understanding and love, will continue until we reach a common agreement, a consensus. CHARLIE ROSE: And you think that’s possible? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: It is possible. We must be optimistic. In the gospel... (LAUGHTER) ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: ... in the gospel it is said, that whatever is impossible to human beings it is possible to God. And we pray and work to realize his divine will, which is that all those who believe in him may be one. It will take time because the separation between east and west goes back to 11th century. And such a large gap of almost 10 centuries is not easy to fulfill from one day to another. But it is very important that we started, initiated this dialogue of love from the beginning, and later on dialogue of truth in this last 40 to 50 years, and we see each other no more as enemies with aggression to each other, but really, truly as brothers in Christ. And we aspire, both of us the same full and perfect unity. The late Pope Paul VI used to say that Orthodox and Catholics are almost united -- quasi-uniti. (LAUGHTER) ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: So we must work and pray to lift up, to eliminate this almost and to have a perfect union according to the will of our Lord. CHARLIE ROSE: You’re in the United States. This is the sixth time you have been here. You returned to New Orleans. You participated in a symposium. You were with the secretary general and former President Clinton and others in Washington. You’ll meet with the president, secretary of state, vice president and others. What do you hope to accomplish in your visit? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: I came to the United States, as you said, for our eighth international interfaith and interdisciplinary environmental symposium, which took place last week in New Orleans. We have this series of ecological symposia in order to create sensitivity and then awareness among our own faithful, but not only. This is a real concern of the church as it is and must be a concern of all of the humankind, human beings, because we see everyday more and more the dangers and the threats of climate change, of pollution, and so on. And we have to create this awareness and sensitivity so that at least hour children and grandchildren may live in a more human, more beautiful, more clean world. Usually we speak about the education of our children and the good food of our children, but what about the air that they breathe and the water they drink? Now and tomorrow and after tomorrow we have to think of the coming generations, the posterity. That is a duty of the church and that is why the Ecumenical Patriarchate initiated this symposium and environmental activity. Now I came to the United States not only for this symposium but in order to visit and to bless our faithful here under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, who are almost two million, and, generally speaking, all the orthodox living in the United States who are five million. In fact, the other day we met with archbishops in the metropolitans leading these orthodox groups, orthodox churches in the states, and we tried to have a mutual understanding and fruitful cooperation in order to give positive, good, nice Christian witness to the American community and to strengthen in faith our own faithful. CHARLIE ROSE: My understanding is that somewhere between 250 and 300 million members of the Orthodox Church. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Yes, throughout the world. CHARLIE ROSE: Throughout the world. I think it was Al Gore but it may have been someone else who first called you the "green patriarch." (LAUGHTER) Do you accept that? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Thank you. It’s an honor for me. It is recognition, if you like, of our humble environmental activities. It is good for more general spreading out of this environmental message. CHARLIE ROSE: Your message is spiritual, that it is a spiritual responsibility... ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: It is. CHARLIE ROSE: ... of the church and its leaders for you to connect to the planet a spirituality. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: I used to say that the ecological problem is not nearly an economic or a political problem. It is mainly a spiritual and ethical question, because it shows our relation not only to God or with God, but also our relations with the creator of everything according to our faith, but also our relation to his creation, because the creation is creation of God is also sacred, and we have to respect it and to protect it according to the order of the first book of the Old Testament, and simply to use it and not to abuse it. Think of the coming generations who must share the same treasures, the same resources of the planet as we do today. CHARLIE ROSE: So how do you plan to use your influence to make a difference? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Mainly, as I said, through creating consciousness of our responsibility, for respect and protection of the natural environment of the planet, of which we are simply stewards and not owners. CHARLIE ROSE: All right. You also have interesting ideas about the global economy. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Well, we... CHARLIE ROSE: Give us your economic... ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: We live and we experience economic -- world economic crisis, all of us. CHARLIE ROSE: Yes. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: But in the last analysis, this economic crisis is a crisis of values and priorities. If there is to be more social justice, a more human approach to poverty, more love in the Christian... CHARLIE ROSE: So you ask economic leaders and business leaders not to forget the fact we have two larger segments of the population that are poor? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: And the rich, and we have to reestablish the balance. CHARLIE ROSE: What would you have them do? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: The Pope, one of his messages of the first day of the New Year, which is always a message on the day of peace as it is declared, proclaimed by the Church of Rome. He said that if we don’t have social justice we cannot obtain permanent peace around the globe. So we have to understand the problems of the so-called third world or any poor fellow human being, and to be of help. Of course, this is mainly the job of politicians, of leaders of great financial organizations. The only message of people of religion like myself could give to the world community is to respect everybody, all human beings, as created in the image and likeness of God, and to be of help. Jesus Christ said that whatever you do for my smallest, poorest people, brothers, you are doing to me. So he, the Lord, identifies himself with those people. And whatever we do for them, we do for Christ. You can realize our great responsibility in this context. CHARLIE ROSE: Have we forgotten that, you think, as a society? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Unfortunately, yes. And we have to rebuild a more just world community. The word is not "just," but I can’t find the other -- fair. CHARLIE ROSE: Fair. Yes, fair. So the sense of looking at this global economic crisis that we are just beginning to recover from is that was fueled by economic success in part -- I mean, you admonish all leaders to think of those least among us who have not benefited. And as we understand the benefits of free market and the benefits of different economic systems, to make sure that we do not realize that everyone does not benefit and that we have a responsibility, and it’s a spiritual responsibility to our fellow... ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: This will be at the last analysis to the benefit of ourselves, of all of the human community, because this will be a great contribution towards creating a stable peace around the globe and mutual understanding and avoid aggression, avoid revolutions of those oppressed, and will bring peace and equality, which will be, I repeat, to the benefit of all of the human community. CHARLIE ROSE: One might ask with respect, is the church doing enough? Is the church communicating well enough, whether it’s Islam, whether it’s Christianity, whether it’s Judaism? It’s a huge responsibility to have us understand values, fairness, equity. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: To be honest, no. Religion has done a lot throughout the centuries for us Christians, Christianity gives the strongest message, and the essence of our Christian faith is love and respect for the human person. But neither Christianity nor the other monotheistic religions succeeded to bring peace and love and respect all over the globe as we experience it every day. Because representatives of religions are also human beings, it means not perfect. They have their own the things, they have their own incapacities and willingness to fulfill their sacred responsibilities, and sometimes not internal but objective, external reasons prohibit us to fulfill our sacred mission and task. And that is why whatever religions proclaim and promise is not the reality in the life of humanity. CHARLIE ROSE: What happens, it seems to me, is that the extreme edges of various religious faiths capture and use for themselves the majesty of the church or the soul of the church and use it for political ends. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: In some cases in history, yes we cannot reject it. It is reality. But I remember now that when only a few months after my election as Ecumenical Patriarch, I convened all heads of Orthodox churches at the Patriarchate in Istanbul. And we had the first synods of the heads of the Orthodox churches. We signed all together a message to our faithful and to the world. And in that text of our message we condemned the using of religion for political and nationalistic purposes and goals. So today, officially, the Orthodox Church rejects the use or abuse of religion for political purposes. CHARLIE ROSE: But so many wars also have been fought about religion, or not? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Sometimes we misinterpret conflicts and wars as being created by religion. CHARLIE ROSE: When it’s about power? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: But, in fact, it is politics or political interests that provoke these conflicts, and not religion. I believe that recent conflicts in the Balkans, although were interpreted as clash or conflict between faiths, religions, it was only for political interest or economic interest that they took place, not out of difference of religious beliefs. CHARLIE ROSE: Some of the most savage fighting during the Iraqi war was between Shiites and Sunni within the church. The sectarian battles were the most intense. Yet at the same time, there’s a great hope now in Iraq that Kurds and Sunni and Shia can come together. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: That is why we need the interfaith dialogue and that is why the ecumenical Patriarchate received this message 25 years ago and initiated this dialogue between different faiths among the monotheistic religions in order to bring more understanding and mutual respect and to avoid religious fanaticism, fundamentalism, and to give the opportunity to human beings to see each other as brothers. Because we are all created by the same God, and as such we are brothers and sisters between ourselves. We have the same heavenly father, whatever we call him. And as being his... CHARLIE ROSE: We of all religions have the same heavenly father. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Of course. God is but one, independently on the name we give him, Allah or Yahweh, and so on. God is one, and we are his children, and we have to love and understand each other. CHARLIE ROSE: How are you doing with the Turkish government? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Now, better. (LAUGHTER) ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: It is true that we have had serious problems as Greek Orthodox community, as Ecumenical Patriarchate, and all the other minorities living in Turkey. Now the situation is much better. Our prime minister is working harder to bring Turkey into the European Union as a full member. This is a real and concrete aspiration of the present administration, and we minorities have already experienced some positive changes, which are not enough. We do expect for more quick reforms in the Turkish society. CHARLIE ROSE: What reforms do you expect? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: For instance, freedom, absolute freedom of religion, and a concrete example of that would be the reopening of our school of theology closed down by the Turkish authorities in the year 1971, which prohibited the Ecumenical Patriarchate to educate and to train the young generation of its staff, and also the people that are needed in the hierarchies of the Ecumenical Patriarchate abroad. We need the restitution of giving back to us of the church properties taken away from our hands through non-legal methods and waste. This will prove that there is a real change of mind. CHARLIE ROSE: Do you believe that the Prime Minister Erdogan is listening to you? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: He has the good will to do so. It is not always easy to fulfill his plans, his desires. It will take time, maybe. But we believe that it will be for the benefit of Turkey and its image abroad to do these reforms and bring respect, bring back respect for human rights, and the most important is respect of religious freedom, as soon as possible. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: You support the membership of Turkey in the European Union? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Yes, I do. We do at the Patriarchate. CHARLIE ROSE: And do you believe that if it does not look promising that Turkey will look in another direction, east rather than west? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Well, these are political questions, and I am not involved in the politics. But I wish I could see as soon as possible Turkey being full part, full member of the European society as the dream and the aspiration of the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk was... CHARLIE ROSE: He believed in a true secular state for Turkey as well. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: He wanted to bring Turkey into the European family, and that is why he did so many reforms in his time. CHARLIE ROSE: Do you think -- speaking of political leaders, what do you think of President Obama? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: I met him shortly in Istanbul a few months ago, and the impression he gave me was a very positive one, the impression of a man humbled, human, a man who knows and wants to listen to the other. And I am very happy and honored that he accepted to receive me next week, next Tuesday at the White House. This is the case of his predecessors Clinton and Bush, who both received me in Washington with great honors, which belonged to the patriarchate, to this very ancient religious institution of ours and not simply to my person. And even President Clinton paid an official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul as sitting president. This was unique in recent history. CHARLIE ROSE: And suppose the president said to your holiness "What can I do for you? And what can I do for your church?" What would you say? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: I would answer to him in more general terms saying that he, as the leader of this great country which influences so many things around the globe has to create this full respect of human rights, among them religious freedom and respect of the rights of minorities everywhere, because this will be a real contribution to the establishment of a permanent peace and to avoiding conflicts because of injustices. He has the responsibility and the possibility to do so much to this direction. And of course in this context, in this framework, they are first, and the problems of our church and our minority in Turkey are included. CHARLIE ROSE: You’d like him to put that on the Turkish agenda next time he talks to the prime minister? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Our prime minister is coming very soon to Washington, in November. CHARLIE ROSE: And human rights is an international, is a global value. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: And if the United States of America pays great attention to this issue of human rights... CHARLIE ROSE: Tell me, how do you see a changing sense of America, and what the world expects from America? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: We appreciate generally speaking of openness, all courageous initiatives taken by political leaders and, namely, the leader of the United States of America, which, as I said, has a great impact, influence, all over the world. China -- you mentioned China -- is a huge country with more than one billion inhabitants. So to create not simply good economical relations, financial relations with China, between the United States and China, but create and establish more and more trust, confidence among these two great countries, will be of great importance for world peace. The message that President Obama gave since the very beginning of his tenure in favor of the dialogue with Islam is also very positive because it brings understanding among two monotheistic religion with so many faithful followers around the globe. These are courageous steps towards establishing the peace to which we all aspire. CHARLIE ROSE: As you know, I’m doing a series of conversations with members of Islamic world. What would be your message as a -- one of the most important religious leaders in the world, to Islam? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: To respect all human beings, to teach love and respect, to cooperate with all people of good will, not to live isolated, but in creating, in building bridges with the other faiths and other cultures. And from this point of view we appreciate very much the initiative of the Turkish prime minister and the Spanish prime minister to bring together and closer the civilizations of Christian western and eastern Muslim civilization. This is a need, a must in our era. CHARLIE ROSE: You wrote a book called "Encountering the Mystery: Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today." What’s the mystery? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: The mystery is whatever exists behind visible things. Orthodoxy, Eastern Christianity, pays great attention and value to spirituality, to non-seen things, but lived, experienced out of faith, because of our faith. And these things are eternal, are permanent, do not change. They are created by God as values, valid for all generations, all places, all the ages. And the fathers, especially fathers of Christian east, have spoken repeatedly on the necessity to transcend material things and the needs of this world and to try to approach and live and experience the mysteries of the kingdom of God, who is coming, not simply coming, but according to the gospel, starts since this very life on earth. So my intention goes to remind people of these values, these eternal things, these things not seen with our eyes, but which is nevertheless the reality, and which gives us hope for the kingdom of God and for eternity. CHARLIE ROSE: It is said with respect about you that this high, exalted place that you sit has been sometimes honorific, but that you have energized it, have made it more powerful, have made it more visible, and have made it more part of the conversation. What have you done? ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Thank you for that. (LAUGHTER) I think that I’m simply a servant of God and of my faith. I tried to do my best according to the necessities and possibilities of today at the beginning of the 21st century, to be in contact with the reality of everyday life, not to live only in theory or only within the walls of the church, but to be present in among my faithful everywhere. That’s why I travel a lot, and sometimes I am criticized that I travel too much. But my feeling is that I have to bring the message of the gospel, the love of the church, the sympathy of the church all over the world. But if you like, if I am permitted to say, not only to Orthodox faith, but to all human beings, an environment for which we work and try to make a small contribution is not a matter of Orthodox only. It is a matter of all of human beings. I try to transmit the message of love and respect, of course, for God our creator, for all of our fellow human beings, and for the creation, which, I repeat, is sacred because it came out of the hands of God. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is a very, very important historic religious institution based in Turkey, in Istanbul of today, for 1,700 years, if you can imagine, Mr. Rose. And such an old institution which offers so many things to the church and the humankind, not only as religion but also as civilization, culture, must be protected in order to survive and to continue its ecumenical mission, its ecumenical message, which is spiritual, is human, is a message of love, tolerance, reconciliation. This is what I try to do. And if there is such a positive appreciation of my humble deeds, this is an honor for me. CHARLIE ROSE: As it is for me to sit with you. You all holiness, I thank you very much for this time. ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE) CHARLIE ROSE: Our thanks to his all holiness and all the people who made this conversation possible. We will begin soon a new series of conversations about religion and about politics. It is called "Voices of Islam" in which we will travel the globe talking to members of the Muslim faith about how they see their role and their world and their faith. We hope you will join us for those conversations. Thank you for joining us tonight. See you next time. END 13