In memoriam Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is united in prayer with the Serbian Patriarchate on the death of His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije, Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro.

Metropolitan Amfilohije was ordained Bishop of Banat in 1985, becoming Head of the Church in Montenegro in 1991, and in 2009 the Locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Amfilohije had a close understanding of the Catholic Church. A student of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in 1965, he took part in the concluding phase of the Second Vatican Council. He returned to Rome in 2003 on an official visit, and was received in audience by Pope John Paul II. In 2013 he represented the Serbian Orthodox Church at the inauguration of the pontificate of Pope Francis, whom he last met in January 2016.   

Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, sent a letter of condolence to His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch.

^{(Photos: Pope Francis and Metropolitan Amfilohije during the audience of January 2016 © Servizio Fotografico - Vatican Media)}