The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) strongly condemns the John Templeton Foundation’s decision to award its 2025 Templeton Prize to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew tomorrow in New York. The foundation praised Bartholomew’s “ecumenical imperative” to care for all of creation, but survivors ask: how does this imperative extend to victims of sexual abuse within his own church?

“Is it not Patriarch Bartholomew’s ‘ecumenical imperative’ to tell the truth about abuse in his own church? To stop standing in the way of justice? To take steps to ensure this never happens again?” said Dr. Hermina Nedelescu, an advocate for victims in the Orthodox Church and keynote speaker at SNAP’s 2025 Annual Conference.

Patriarch Bartholomew’s refusal to remove all known offenders from ministry and discipline bishops and church leaders for facilitating and concealing abuse is a profound moral failure that poses an ongoing public safety threat to the Orthodox community. Such a refusal should disqualify him from receiving an honor that purports to celebrate spiritual leadership and human dignity.

By rewarding Bartholomew, the Templeton Foundation is not only overlooking these failures, it is actively causing harm to survivors by honoring a figure who has stood in the way of justice for those who were raped and sexually abused in his church.