FILE -- In this file photo taken on Jan. 5, 1964, Pope Paul VI, right, and orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople pose at their historic meeting at the apostolic delegation's headquarters on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Jordan. The iconic 1964 embrace between the diminutive Paul and the six-foot-tall, bearded Patriarch of Constantinople ended 900 years of mutual excommunications and divisions between Catholic and Orthodox stemming from the Great Schism of 1054, which split Christianity. Pope Francis insists his weekend pilgrimage to the Middle East is a “strictly religious” commemoration of a key turning point in Catholic-Orthodox relations. But the three-day visit is the most delicate mission of his papacy and will test his diplomatic chops as he negotiates Israeli-Palestinian tensions and fallout from Syria's civil war. (AP Photo)