On Thursday, September 25, 2025, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew concluded his Apostolic Visit to the United States, departing from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after an extraordinary and groundbreaking eleven days in America.
Seeing him off at the airport was His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Hierarchs of the Eparchial Synod, the Spiritual Advisor of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Grand Protopresbyter of the Holy and Great Church of Christ, Father Alexander Karloutsos, and other clergy, as well as numerous Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
During his Apostolic Visit, His All-Holiness had a private meeting in the Oval Office with U.S. President Donald Trump. He also met with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy; Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis; Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan; Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov; United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres; U.S. Congressional leaders including House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; as well as senior U.S. government officials and leaders of the Hellenic American community.
Also during his Apostolic Visit to the United States, His All-Holiness also received the prestigious Templeton Prize “for his pioneering efforts to bridge scientific and spiritual understandings of humanity’s relationship with the natural world, bringing together people of different faiths to heed a call for stewardship of creation.” He spoke at the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit and delivered a major address at the Council on Foreign Relations. The Ecumenical Patriarch also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
