Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, joined Metropolitan Hilarion, the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, in an Eastern-rite prayer service at the Church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, and together venerated the Crown of Thorns.

The meeting marked the sixth anniversary of the historic Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, signed during their meeting in Havana.