His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of over 300 million Orthodox Christian faithful worldwide, will join Pope Francis at the Vatican for a peace summit on the evening of June 8, 2014. The invitation came from His Holiness Pope Francis in a focused effort and spiritual initiative to assist the peace process in the Middle East. Also at the invitation of Pope Francis, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be together with the two world religious leaders to participate in intense deliberations and an interfaith invocation, which will include Muslims, Jews and Christians and aim to promote peace in the region.

During their recent Apostolic Pilgrimage to Jerusalem (May 25-26, 2014), the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch affirmed their commitment to continuing the theological dialogue between the two largest Christian Churches in the world. They also agreed to expand relations to include non-Christian faith communities and actively engage in the peacemaking process, particularly in the Middle East, the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has expressed his conviction that – beyond political and diplomatic efforts – the way to overcome the current stalemate in the peace process is through prayer and solidarity. His All-Holiness stressed that “tomorrow’s prayer assumes a very important significance that transcends immediate or visible results. Rather, it seeks to demonstrate that it is the privileged task and vocation of Christians to be the true voice of peace in the world, in accordance with the prayer and commandments of our Lord.”

©   patriarchate.org  -  June 7, 2014