Istanbul, October 28, 2019
Photo: pravda.ru
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople will visit the U.S. next year and meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., reports Romfea.
The Patriarch will arrive by invitation of the U.S. government—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in particular, to speak at a meeting on the environment.
Pat. Bartholomew will reportedly stay in the U.S. for 10 days and meet with President Trump at the White House between May 12 and 14. He will also visit the headquarters of the Greek Archdiocese of America in New York and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary in Boston.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America was received by President Trump in July, thanking him for the U.S.’s continued support for the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Archbishop told the President of the upcoming visit of Pat. Bartholomew (initially planned for this summer), and President Trump said he would be glad to meet him.
The Patriarch will also be honored with an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame University.
The details of his visit will be discussed in the coming weeks when Abp. Elpidophoros visits Constantinople in the second half of November.
Pat. Bartholomew last visited the U.S. ten years ago, in October 2009, visiting several states.
Recall that Secretary Pompeo met with Epiphany Dumenko, the head of the schismatic Ukrainian church. The two discussed “Russian aggression” and the Secretary pledged the U.S.’s continuing support for “religious freedom” in Ukraine. The State Department has been very open about its support for the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s actions in Ukraine in creating a new ecclesiastical structure on the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.
The Secretary did not hold his scheduled meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of the Moscow Patriarchate last week.
Pompeo also met with the primate of the schismatic “Macedonian Orthodox Church” earlier this month.
