Patriarch Bartholomew Gives Quran to Russian Muslim Leader — What's Going On?

In 2009, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople gifted a Quran to a Muslim leader — and many Christians are still asking: Why would an Orthodox patriarch do that?

And it’s not an isolated example.

In recent decades we’ve seen a growing list of gestures and statements from major Christian leaders that seem totally at odds with what many Christians online would expect:

📌 A pope kissing the Quran
📌 The former Patriarch of Alexandria calling Muhammad a “true prophet of God”
📌 Patriarch Kirill saying Muslims and Christians worship the same God
📌 Patriarch Bartholomew claiming all religions worship God

Meanwhile, online Christian discourse often takes a very hardline approach toward other religions — sometimes even hostile or vitriolic.

So what’s behind this massive gap between:

1. Online Christian rhetoric
2. The tone of popes, patriarchs, and bishops?

In this video, I examine:
✔️ Whether Catholics doing this is different because of papal infallibility
✔️ Whether the internet and institutional leaders inhabit two totally different “worlds”

👉 Watch now and let me know what you think in the comments.

00:00 Introduction
00:56 Michael's intentions for this podcast
02:56 How common is this?
03:58 Patriarch Bartholomew gifts a Quran
07:56 Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict on Islam
09:44 Patriarch of Alexandria calls Muhammad a true prophet of God
11:16 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow says Muslims and Christians worship the same God
13:05 Patriarch Bartholomew says all religions worship God
15:02 Pope John Paul II kisses the Quran
15:32 The grass isn't greener anywhere
17:34 The gap between online Christianity and the bishops
20:26 Everyone has to account for the phenomenon of ecumenism and interreligioius dialogue
21:17 But, our patriarchs aren't infallible like your pope!

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