At his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV welcomed participants in an ecumenical Orthodox-Catholic pilgrimage from the United States. The pilgrimage, which retraces the footsteps of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome and Andrew in Constantinople, takes on special meaning this year as the Church commemorates the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. During the audience, the Pope expressed his joy at receiving the group in what he called the "splendid setting" of Castel Gandolfo, despite arriving with a "slight delay." He shared his hope to meet them again in a few months, as part of the planned Ecumenical Commemoration of the historic council. Sending a warm greeting to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Pope reaffirmed that the Nicene Creed — with the additions made by the Council of Constantinople in 381 — remains a shared treasure of all Christians. Reflecting on the Resurrection of Christ as a source of enduring hope, the Pope addressed Metropolitan Elpidophoros, noting the powerful symbolism of his name — “bringer of hope.” That hope, Pope Leo stressed, is rooted in faith: “No cry of the innocent or mourning of grieving mothers will go unheard. Our hope is in God, and we are called to bear witness to His grace.” Unity remains a central theme in Pope Leo’s ministry — it is, in fact, his papal motto. He reminded the pilgrims not to take for granted the signs of communion already present, even if full unity has yet to be achieved. These moments, he said, reflect the deep theological progress and spirit of fraternal dialogue developed over recent decades. The Pope also recalled the historic Joint Declaration signed in 1965 by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, which lifted the mutual excommunications of 1054. That gesture, he said, was a prophetic sign of the unity to come: “A pilgrimage like yours would have been unthinkable before then.” Looking ahead, Pope Leo turned his gaze to the year 2033 — the two-thousandth anniversary of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. “To Jerusalem, the City of Peace, we must spiritually return,” he said, calling on all Christians to walk the path of unity and compassion, and to be like the Good Samaritan, pouring “the oil of consolation and the wine of joy” over the wounds of today’s world.