Following the joint pilgrimage on Friday of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Leo XIV in Nicaea to honor the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, attention now turns to the presence of the head of the Roman Catholic Church at the Phanar.

The Pope, accompanied by his entourage, arrived at midday at the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He was welcomed at the entrance of the Patriarchal Church of St. George by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The two primates, after lighting a candle together, venerated the holy icon in the church, where a Doxology was chanted.

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Present are the Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore, hierarchs of the Churches of Constantinople and Rome, as well as representatives of diplomatic missions.

Next, the signing ceremony of the Joint Declaration is scheduled to take place in the Throne Hall of the Patriarchal House. After the signing of the declaration, there will be a presentation of the hierarchs from both sides and the other members of the papal delegation, before the two primates withdraw for their private meeting in the Patriarchal office.

The program of the first day at the Phanar will conclude with Great Vespers, presided over by the Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore.