On Wednesday, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis invited leaders of all Christian sects in the Middle East to come to Italy in July to discuss how they can help bring peace in the region.
The meeting, according to the statement, is scheduled on July 7th in Bari, a small Adriatic port city and home to the relic of St. Nicholas, a known Christian figure for both Western and Eastern Christians.
St. Nicholas, who mostly spent his years in old-day Turkey, was honored by the Christian Orthodox Churches in the Middle East, as well as those from the Orthodox Church in Russia.
The Vatican also remarked that the encounter would be an "ecumenical meeting for peace" where the leaders and the Pope would discuss "the dramatic situation of the Middle East that afflicts so many brothers and sisters in the faith."
