In Istanbul, on June 13, 1967, Chiara met the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras I. From ’67 to ’72 she made eight trips to Istanbul and had 23 audiences with the Patriarch. Later she also met his successors, Dimitrios I and Bartholomew I.
Fifty years after the first meeting between Patriarch Athenagoras and Chiara Lubich, the Sophia University Institute based in Loppiano (FI) established an international ecumenical Chair of Studies in synergy with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.