Pope Francis was received at the Presidential Palace shortly after 12:00, where he met with the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church said in a moving speech: “I am honoured to be in this glorious city. I come as a pilgrim to these soils. Without Athens and without Greece, Europe and the world would not be what they are today. This is where the roads of the Gospel passed that united East and West”. As he said, “here, according to the statement of Socrates, one began to feel like a citizen. Here man realised that he was a political being. “Democracy was born here,” he said, “and then laid the foundations to build a common home, Europe. Today, not only in the Old Continent, there is a decline of the Republic. Everyone’s participation is fundamental not only to achieving goals but because it reveals who we are.”

“I welcome you with special honour and emotion”, said Katerina Sakellaropoulou at the beginning of her speech, emphasising that the visit has a great symbolic value as it “indicates your high interest in the region and the wider Mediterranean, as well as your constant care for religious dialogue and the universality of Christianity. It also has great symbolic value, as this year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman yoke, which led to the creation of the modern Greek State.”

Katerina Sakelaropoulou spoke about the pandemic and vaccines, emphasising that the prospect of vaccination around the world is reduced to the biggest issue of justice.

She also referred to Hagia Sophia and thanked Pope Francis for the position he took to turn it into a mosque.