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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)
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 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:
<blockquote>“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.”
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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:
 
<li> In 1967, Pope Paul VI wrote the first papal document in which the term “sisters” is used to refer to the churches of East and West. 
<li>In 1975, a statue commemorating the meeting of Patriarch Athenagoras and Paul VI was placed 
on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, N.J. 
<li>The Vatican issued a souvenir sheet (Scott 1602) of the trip of Pope Francis to Jerusalem and 
meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew on May 25, 2014. Their meeting commemorated the 50th
anniversary of the meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras:
 
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2014 Travels of Pope Francis Trip to Israel/Church of the Holy Sepulchre Scott 1602 (2015)
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References: 
<li>Michael Lemothe, Vatican Notes, Volume 60, Issue 352, pp. 10-15, 2012, <a href='https://www.vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=60-352-10-11'>The Pilgrim Pope: The Travels of Pope Paul VI--Part I</a> 
<li>Peter Hebblethwaite, Paul VI: The First Modern Pope (1996) 
<li>Thomas Stransky, America Magazine, May 13, 2014, <a href='https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/ecclesial-embrace'>An Ecclesial Embrace: The historic meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras</a> 
<li>Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Vatican News , January 4, 2024, <a href='https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-01/pope-paul-vi-athenagoras-sixtieth-anniversary-jerusalem-meeting.html'>'An uninterrupted path of unity’ since 1964 meeting of Paul VI, Athenagoras</a> 
<li>Angeli Murzaku, Catholic World Report, August 29, 2017, <a href='https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/08/29/recalling-the-prophetic-embrace-of-athenagoras-i-and-paul-vi/'>Recalling the prophetic embrace of Athenagoras I and Paul VI</a> 
<li>John Burger, Aleteia, January 4, 2024, <a href='https://aleteia.org/2024/01/04/this-meeting-60-years-ago-in-jerusalem-changed-a-millennium/'>This meeting 60 years ago in Jerusalem changed a millennium</a> 
<li>Wikipedia – various 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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