His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, received the 2025 Templeton Prize at a ceremony held at Lincoln Center in New York.
At the event, a seven-minute film, titled Stewards of Creation, was presented. It highlights Bartholomew’s life and his “ecumenical imperative” to care for creation.
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By Alyssa Settefrati
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of approximately 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians around the world, received the 2025 Templeton Prize at a September 24 ceremony held at the renowned Lincoln Center in New York City.
Over 300 guests attended the event in David Geffen Hall, including a contingent of clergy dressed in their traditional black cassocks, eager to honor one of their own. Several luminaries were also in attendance: previous Templeton Prize laureates Dr. Jane Goodall (2021) and Professor Paul Davies (1995), the former Vice President Al Gore, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece.
In April, Bartholomew was named the 2025 Templeton Prize laureate for his pioneering efforts to bridge scientific and spiritual understandings of humanity’s relationship with the natural world, which has brought together people of different faiths to heed a call for stewardship of creation. The Templeton Prize, established in 1972 by Sir John Templeton, honors individuals whose exemplary achievements advance his philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.
Leigh Cameron, Chair of the Board of the John Templeton Foundation and a Templeton family member, welcomed the audience. The ceremony then began with a procession to the Kontakion of the Annunciation, a Byzantine chant performed by vocal ensemble Cappella Romana. Heather Templeton Dill, former President of the John Templeton Foundation and granddaughter of Sir John Templeton, gave an introduction to the Templeton Prize.
“Templeton Prize laureates come from different fields of research, different areas of the world, different perspectives and different faith traditions,” said Dill. “But they share a curiosity about the natural world that knits together a deep spiritual understanding of humankind’s place and purpose in this world with insights from the sciences.”
She then explained the achievements of Bartholomew—known as the Green Patriarch—and his unwavering dedication to environmental causes.
“Bartholomew made care for the environment a primary concern of his tenure as one of the world’s most important and visible religious leaders. He tapped the expertise of scientists, developed a theological framework for encouraging care for the environment, and communicated frequently about the problems of environmental degradation and humankind’s responsibility to address it.”
A video presentation played after Dill’s remarks. The seven-minute film, titled Stewards of Creation, highlighted Bartholomew’s life and his “ecumenical imperative” to care for creation.
“We human beings destroy the natural resources, the forests, the beauty, in order to gain more and more material income. We exploit nature,” Bartholomew says in the film. “Destroying earth, air, waters, is a sin.”
The audience was visibly delighted when the house lights came up and Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, took to the podium. “I first met the Green Patriarch on Halki Island. What a great idea it was of his to bring environmentalists together on that beautiful island to discuss ways of saving nature,” she remarked of the 2012 summit on the Greek island. “We humans are part of this natural world. So often now we’re divorcing ourselves and our children from the natural world,” she said. “If we don’t understand nature, we won’t want to protect it. And this is a huge mistake...
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About the Templeton Prize
Established in 1972, the Templeton Prize is one of the world’s largest annual individual awards. It is given to honor individuals whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton’s philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it. Currently valued at £1.1 million GBP, the award is adjusted periodically so it always exceeds the value of the Nobel Prize. Winners have come from a wide range of faiths, fields, and geographies, and have included Nobel Prize winners, philosophers, theoretical physicists, and one canonized saint. The Templeton Prize is awarded by the three Templeton philanthropies: the John Templeton Foundation, based in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and by the Templeton World Charity Foundation and Templeton Religion Trust, based in Nassau, The Bahamas. To learn more, visit: TempletonPrize.org
