President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and congratulated him on thirty years of moral and spiritual leadership as Ecumenical Patriarch. The President expressed relief at the Ecumenical Patriarch’s speedy recovery. They 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. 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 President Biden and His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch.