TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Pope Francis' efforts to improve relations with the Georgian Orthodox Church suffered a public setback Saturday after the patriarchate decided not to send an official delegation to his Mass and repeated that Orthodox faithful cannot participate in Catholic services.

In the run-up to Francis' Caucasus visit, the Vatican spokesman had said the Orthodox Patriarchate would send a delegation to the Mass in a Tbilisi sports stadium "in a sign of the rapport between the two churches" — suggesting that the chill that had clouded the 1999 visit of St. John Paul II to Georgia had warmed slightly.

But Orthodox patriarchate spokeswoman Nato Asatiani said Saturday that the delegation had stayed away "by mutual agreement."

"As long as there are dogmatic differences between our churches, Orthodox believers will not participate in their prayers," the patriarchate said on its website, updating a previous statement.

The reversal apparently came after Francis' arrival Friday in Tbilisi was met with protests of hardline Orthodox opposed to any ecumenical initiatives by their church.

"It's typical proselytizing," said Father David Klividze, who was among about 100 people protesting outside the stadium from the hardline Union of Orthodox Parents. "Can you imagine how it would be if a Sunni preacher came to Shiite Iran and conducted prayers in a stadium or somewhere else? Such a thing could not be. Therefore, we are speaking against this."

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the Vatican accepted the Orthodox decision, which he said had been conveyed to the papal delegation Friday night.

Francis had been scheduled to personally greet the Orthodox delegation at the end of the Mass. Instead, Francis thanked "those Orthodox faithful" who were present.

Later Saturday, Francis insisted that Catholics must never seek to convert Orthodox, saying they are Catholics' brothers and sisters, children of the same God.

"Proselytism is a grave sin against ecumenism," Francis told a gathering of Catholic priests and seminarians. "One must not proselytize the Orthodox."

Organizers had said they expected the Meshki sports stadium, capacity 27,000, to be full for the Mass, but only a few thousand people had taken their seats by the time Francis entered on his popemobile. There was no immediate explanation for the low turnout of Catholic faithful on the brilliantly sunny day.

Georgia is overwhelmingly Orthodox, with less than 3 percent of the population — or about 112,000 people — Catholic, according to Vatican statistics.

In his homily, Francis urged his faithful to find consolation in God and not be "saddened by the lack of harmony around us."

"It is when we are united, in communion, that God's consolation works in us," he said.

Francis had received a surprisingly warm welcome from the Orthodox leader upon his arrival Friday for the three-day visit that also includes a stop in Muslim-majority Azerbaijan.

Patriarch Ilia welcomed Francis as my "dear brother" and toasted him saying: "May the Lord bless the Catholic Church of Rome."

It was a different tone compared to the chill that characterized the 1999 visit by St. John Paul II, when Ilia greeted him only as a head of state, not a religious leader. Then, Catholic-Orthodox tensions were so high that the Georgian Orthodox Church urged its faithful to stay away from his Mass.

The last-minute decision not to send an Orthodox delegation to Francis' Mass, and to repeat that Orthodox shouldn't attend, illustrated the problems that often frustrate the Vatican's ecumenical efforts.

Other than Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, there were no prominent Georgian politicians on hand for the Mass. That suggested that with parliamentary elections planned for next week, politicians might have been reluctant to alienate any hardline Orthodox voters.

Francis' visit has been met with some protests by hardline Orthodox, who demonstrated outside the airport and Chaldean church holding signs saying "The Vatican is a spiritual aggressor" and "Death of papism."

Francis' main ecumenical event Saturday was an evening visit to the seat of the Orthodox church, where he was expected to press his call for improved Catholic-Orthodox ties.

The Orthodox cathedral is located in Mtskheta, the spiritual capital of Georgia and where Christianity took root in the 4th century. The 11th-century Svetitskhoveli cathedral is said to have housed Christ's tunic.

"For the Christian world and not only, the visit of the pope is very significant," said Amiran Tsiklauri, an Orthodox resident of Tbilisi. "The pope is not only spiritual leader for Catholics but also the person who calls and urges for peace around the world."

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