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 The Visit of Pope Paul VI to the Holy Land Top Left: Pope Paul VI Top Right: Nativity Church, Bethlehem Bottom Left: Church of the Holy Sepulchre Bottom Right: Well of the Virgin Mary, Nazareth Scott 375-378 (1964) Within the first six months of his papacy, but before the close of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI implemented one of the primary goals of Vatican II – “Christian Unity”. His heroic leadership in ecumenicism truly contributed to him being declared a Saint on October 14, 2018. On January 4, 1964, the Vatican issued a four-stamp set (Scott 375 to 378) commemorating his visit to the Holy Land. It was also the first visit of a Pope outside of Italy since 1812. On this trip, he met with Patriarch Athenagoras on January 6, 1964, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is located at the bottom of the Mount of Olives adjacent to the Garden of Gethsemane. Prior to this visit, the last meeting of the leadership of the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church was in 1438. The schism of the two churches, by excommunication on both sides, was put into effect in 1054. Patriarch Athenagoras was asked: What was the reason for the meeting? He replied: “To say ‘Good Morning’ to my beloved brother, the Pope. You must remember that it’s been 500 years since we last spoke to each other…May this meeting of ours be the first glimmer of dawn of a shining and holy day in which Christian generations of the future will receive communion in the holy Body and Blood of the Lord from the same chalice, in love, peace and unity, and will praise and glorify the one Lord and Savior of all.”The Eastern Orthodox Church has approximately 220 million baptized members. The Eastern Orthodox Churches are structured as a communion of autocephalous churches: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow, Georgia, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is considered an independent Eastern Orthodox Church. These autocephalous churches are governed by a bishop in unison with a local synod. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is known as the “first among equals”. Constantinople was renamed Istanbul in 1930. The Roman Catholic Church has approximately 1.38 billion baptized members worldwide. Two outcomes came from the 1964 meeting. There was a joint declaration of the removal of the sentence of excommunication issued in 1054. The declarations of nullification were made official in 1965. Additionally, in 1966 Pope Paul VI established the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (SPCU) as a permanent dicastery of the Holy See. This office in now known as the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU). The Eastern Orthodox Church of Constantinople set up a similar office. Other interesting Ecumenical Events include:  2014 Travels of Pope Francis Trip to Israel/Church of the Holy Sepulchre Scott 1602 (2015) References: |
