• Relive the Apostolic Pilgrimage to Jerusalem through photos documenting each day of the visit.

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May 27, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Meets with Israeli and Palestinian Leadership before departing Holy Land

We were delighted that both President Peres and President Abbas accepted the invitation of our brother, Pope Francis, to visit the Vatican in order to reflect on a peace initiative. We assure you that our wholehearted prayers will accompany them in their travels and their deliberations.

May 26, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Concludes Meetings With Pope Francis In Jerusalem

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met today with Pope Francis on the Mount of Olives. At the site known as Viri Galilaei (Acts 1.11), the Patriarch and the Pontiff met for the third and final time during their joint pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. It marked the conclusion of an historical pilgrimage and fraternal encounter.

May 25, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew And Pope Francis Pray Together At Holy Sepulcher

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and His Holiness Pope Francis celebrated a fifty-year milestone today, continuing the legacy of their predecessors Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. Meeting at the Apostolic Delegation in the Old City of Jerusalem, the worldwide heads of the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches signed a Joint Declaration affirming their commitment to and anticipation of full sacramental unity in obedience to the commandment of Jesus Christ that his “disciples may be one.”

May 25, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew And Pope Francis Issue Joint Declaration

Our meeting, another encounter of the Bishops of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople founded respectively by the two Brothers the Apostles Peter and Andrew, is a source of profound spiritual joy for us. It presents a providential occasion to reflect on the depth and the authenticity of our existing bonds, themselves the fruit of a grace-filled journey on which the Lord has guided us since that blessed day of fifty years ago.

May 24, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew In Bethlehem

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of over 300 million Orthodox faithful worldwide, who is in Israel to meet with Pope Francis, today visited Bethlehem to venerate the sacred site of Christ’ s Birth and pray with its shrinking Christian population.

Latest Addresses

Statement by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial (Jerusalem, 27 May 2014)

All who descend into the inner chamber of the museum are free to walk away when they chose, and return to the sunlight. Such was not the case for these 1.5 million children whose lives were taken from them through hatred and unspeakable violence.

Patriarchal Exhortation by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Orthodox Delegations (Jerusalem, May 26, 2014)

It is our God-given mandate to bring discipleship to the world around us. And by discipleship, we mean the discipline bequeathed to us by our Lord to have compassion for one another and the natural environment. We are called and commanded to share with others the gifts that we have received and the joy that we have experienced on this Holy Mountain of Zion and in the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Toast by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Dinner Hosted by His Holiness Pope Francis (Jerusalem, May 25, 2014)

This meal comes at the end of a long journey, which began for Your Holiness at the West and for our Modesty in the East. We have arrived in the place where East and West converge, to the roots of our very existence as Christians, the place where our Lord was born, taught, suffered the Cross, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to constitute His Church.

Featured Articles - Joint Declarations

May 25, 2014: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew And Pope Francis Issue Joint Declaration
Our meeting, another encounter of the Bishops of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople founded respectively by the two Brothers the Apostles Peter and Andrew, is a source of profound spiritual joy for us. It presents a providential occasion to reflect on the depth and the authenticity of our existing bonds, themselves the fruit of a grace-filled journey on which the Lord has guided us since that blessed day of fifty years ago.
Summary of Joint Declaration by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict XVI (November 30, 2006)
Summary of Joint Declaration by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict XVI on November 30, 2006
Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I (7 December, 1965)
Common Declaration made by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, expressing their decision to remove from memory and from the midst of the Church the excommunications of 1054, 7 December 1965. The text of the joint Catholic-Orthodox declaration, approved by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople, was read simultaneously (Dec. 7) at a public meeting of the ecumenical council in Rome and at a special ceremony in Istanbul. The declaration concerns the Catholic-Orthodox exchange of excommunications in 1054.

Latest Video

May 26, 2014 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Concludes Meetings with Pope Francis in Jerusalem
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met today with Pope Francis on the Mount of Olives. At the site known as Viri Galilaei (Acts 1.11), the Patriarch and the Pontiff met for the third and final time during their joint pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. It marked the conclusion of an historical pilgrimage and fraternal encounter.
May 26, 2014 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew plants a tree at the Grove of Nations in Jerusalem
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, at the invitation of the Government of Israel, planted an olive tree at the Grove of Nations on Mt. Herzel in Jerusalem. The invitation to plant a tree here is restricted to Presidents and Prime Ministers and the highest level official guests. Today's planting is a high honor afforded to the Ecumenical Patriarch and an acknowledgement of his environmental initiatives. Efi Stenzler, World Chairman of the Karen Kayemeth LeIsrael Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), received Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the event.

Latest Photos

05/27/14: Meeting with Mahmoud Abbas
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew meets with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
 
05/27/14: Meeting with the President of Israel Shimon Peres
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew meets with President of Israel Shimon Peres.
 
05/27/14: Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visits the Museum of Holocaust Art at the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem.
 
05/26/14: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Receives Pope Francis at Little Galilee.
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew receives Pope Francis at the summer residence of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Little Galilee.
 
 

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