This Europe: Divided churches' men in black go green

Environmental saviours do not normally appear in black robes and ecclesiastical finery, nor do they often deliver their message from the deck of a multistorey car ferry, but the Green Patriarch's arrival in Venice yesterday aboard the Festos Palace heralded a stark warning to humanity over the destruction of the Earth's resources, while calling on religion to play its part in stopping it.

The joint declaration from Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I and Pope John Paul II, affirming both churches' commitment to environmentally ethical goals, was the final stop in a remarkable gathering of religious figures, scientists, environmentalists and politicians on a five-day sea voyage.

The floating talking-shop had visited each of the Adriatic countries as part of the fourth symposium organised by the spiritual leader of the world's estimated 300 million Orthodox faithful, known as the Green Patriarch for his enthusiastic championing of environmental issues.

The eclectic gathering was repeatedly told the unchecked exploitation of global resources and widespread destruction of natural habitats constituted a sin for which, in the words of theologian John of Pergamon, "we all stand in need of repentance". The unaccustomed sight of giant ferries amid the Venetian canals may soon be matched by the novelty of churchgoers nipping into the confession box to cleanse their environmental sins. But the more immediate impact of the groundbreaking joint initiative could be a thawing in the tensions between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

The Pope's fragile health meant the two churches were still separated by the distance between Venice and the Vatican – where John Paul II signed via a live video link – but this joint move on the sin of ecological destruction is the closest they have been for almost a millennium.