He said that carrying that cross is to assume a new commitment to Greece and to his people here. The Patriarch's visit comes as the Orthodox Church celebrates 30 years of presence in the region, including Central America, the Caribbean, and part of South America. He thanked the Greek community in Panama for their support and said the country has shown respect and hospitality. Mulino remembered his decades-long relationship with the Greek community, people who —according to him— are very similar to Panamanians: open, straightforward, and hardworking. In the Yellow Hall there was a cassock, a cross, and a message. Panama was placed on the spiritual map, but also on the diplomatic one.
It was not just a religious act. The Orthodox Patriarch Theodore II hung the President José Raúl Mulino with the Great Cross of the Apostle Mark, one of the highest decorations of the Greek Orthodox Church. According to the religious leader, this distinction was for the support of the Panamanian state to the Orthodox community and for keeping the doors open to interfaith dialogue. Theodore II is in Panama and for the first time in Latin America. Mutual respect, old alliances, and symbols that weigh more than a speech. The stop was key in our country. "These are tough times and strong leaders are needed," the Patriarch said to Mulino. It was a political message without saying politics.
