Istanbul's Patriarch Bartholomew meets US officials

Istanbul's Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew met with senior officials including President Joe Biden during his 12-day visit to the U.S. 

Biden and Bartholomew "discussed efforts to confront climate change, steps to end the global COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of religious freedom as a fundamental human right," according to a statement from the White House.

"Their meeting underscored the critical role that faith communities play in confronting the range of global challenges we all face, as well as the decades-long friendship and partnership" between Biden and the Patriarch.

Speaking to the press following a closed-door meeting with Biden, Bartholomew expressed "abundant satisfaction" with the meeting.

"And finally I would like to announce to you that, together with His Holiness the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Communion and Muslim and Jewish religious leaders, we shall make an appeal to the whole world to facilitate the vaccination of everybody, especially poor people," he said.

"The president accepted our common initiative with great satisfaction."

Earlier, Bartholomew also met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"The United States stands strongly for the principle of religious freedom, and we stand for that in our foreign policy, and of course we stand for that in our own country. His All-Holiness's church extends across the globe and here in the United States," Blinken told reporters ahead of the meeting.

For his part, Bartholomew said: "We are grateful to the American administration, the administration of the United States, for the continuous support for the Ecumenical Throne and its ideas and values which we try to protect, struggling at the same time to...