The pope won't be going to Istanbul, but in a gesture to the Orthodox Church he is returning the relics of two saints that were seized by Crusaders 800 years ago, Vatican officials said Thursday.
Ecumenical Patriarch Barthlomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, had asked for the return of the relics when he met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in June. At that time, he also invited the pope to visit the seat of the Orthodox Church in Istanbul.
Because of the 84-year-old pontiff's frail condition, the Vatican has reduced his foreign travel and he won't make the trip to Istanbul. John Paul visited Istanbul in 1979.
Instead, a Vatican delegation will return the relics at the end of November for the Orthodox feast day of Saint Andrew, officials said.
The relics - the bones of the patriarchs Saints John Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzen - disappeared from Constantinople, the modern day Istanbul, in the sack of 1204 by Crusaders. They have been kept in St. Peter's Basilica.
The patriarch's June visit was intended to underline both sides' commitment to Christian unity and to restart stalled theological talks.
Christianity split into Western and Eastern branches in the 11th century over the growing power of the papacy, an issue that remains a principal source of division.
During his talks with Barthlomew, the pope had restated his remorse for the sacking of Constantinople that contributed to the collapse of the Byzantine Empire about three centuries later.