Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I formally accepted, on April 14, 2004, Pope John Paul II’s apology, for the 1204 sacking of Constantinople by Crusader armies during the Fourth Crusade. Accepting the apology during a liturgy, Bartholomew noted that "the spirit of reconciliation is stronger than hatred".
The acceptance was seen as a major step toward Catholic-Orthodox reconciliation. The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) never reached the Holy Land and instead ended with Christians attacking other Christians. In addition to the apology, Pope John Paul II later returned sacred relics of two Constantinopolitan archbishops that had been held in Rome since the 1204 sack.
