Pope Francis has announced his upcoming trip to the Holy Land on
Sunday, January 5, just one day after the 50th anniversary of the first
ever papal trip to the region. Pope Paul VI began his visit on January 4th
1964. This was the first journey outside Italy for a Pope. This historic
pilgrimage marked a fundamental shift in Catholic-Orthodox relations:
Paul VI met with the head of the Orthodox Church at the time, the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras I, in the Garden of
Olives in Jerusalem, an encounter which led to the lifting of the mutual
excommunications declared after the East-West Schism in 1054.
In memory of this major and significant event, Pope Francis will meet the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, in an ecumenical
meeting with representatives of the Christian Churches of Jerusalem,
which will take place near the Holy Sepulchre. "From now I ask you to
pray for this pilgrimage, it will be a journey of prayer" said Pope Francis at
the Angelus when he announced his forthcoming trip to the Holy Land.
In the photo: Pope Francis meets Patriarch Bartholomew I of
Constantinople in the Vatican.
