Archbishop of Greek Orthodox Church dies

Archbishop Christodoulos of the Greek Orthodox Church died Monday after a battle with cancer, church officials told CNN. He was 69.

Christodoulos was the spiritual leader of roughly 15 million Greek Orthodox Christians worldwide, including about 10 million in Greece.

He had led the church for 10 years, boosting membership after a period of declining attendance and internal turmoil.

The archbishop also addressed centuries-old grievances with the Roman Catholic Church. He received the late Pope John Paul II in Athens in 2001 on the first papal visit to Greece in nearly 1,300 years.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/28/obit.christodoulos/index.html