The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis in Jerusalem on Sunday, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the meeting between leaders of the two churches Patriarch Athinagoras and Pope Paul VI, which was the first since the Schism of 1054.
The Archbishop of Constantinople and head of Eastern Orthodox Communion will arrive in Israel on Friday for a series of a religious ceremonies in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, while the Pope will be arriving on Sunday morning to oversee the Holy Mass in Bethlehem. The meeting between the two is scheduled for 7pm, Greek time, with a second meeting planned for Monday.
According to religious circles, the two spiritual leaders of the Christian world will seek to further develop the ties of the two Churches and are rumored to send a common message of peace to the troubled Middle East and beyond. As expected, the meeting has generated a lot of interest world-wide, with thousands of journalists covering the historic event.
