On 22 October Pope Francis met with the Ecumenical Patriarch, who was in Rome this week for the International Prayer Meeting for Peace and for the conferral of an honorary degree at the Antonianum.
As a gift, the Patriarch gave the pope an image of Saint Martha of Bethany made by monks at Mount Athos. In exchange, the Holy Father offered the Patriarch a ceramic work depicting the icon of Saints Peter and Andrew that had been a gift of Patriarch Athenagoras to Pope Paul VI during their historical meeting in Jerusalem in 1964. The icon has become closely associated with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in the office of which it is now kept.
