This coming weekend, we should join our thoughts and prayers to those of the whole Church and the world as Pope Francis engages in an historic event. He will visit the Holy Land.

He will make this visit on the 50th anniversary of the trip made by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

On that occasion, Pope Paul met with and embraced the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch. That broke the ice on 900 years of tragic estrangement between those elements of the Church of Jesus Christ.

In the United States, we really don’t hear a great deal about the history of the separation between Catholics and the Orthodox, or about on-going efforts to heal that breach. But that meeting 50 years ago was so important for building unity in the Church that Pope Francis will meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch again on this trip, using the same room where the meeting took place a half a century ago.

Here then is a first intention for our prayers; the unity of the Church.

For every apostolic visit by the pope a theme and a logo is chosen to highlight the most important point. For this visit, the logo is a drawing of an embrace between SS. Peter and Andrew, the patrons of the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. And the motto is: “Ut Unum Sint” (That all might be one).

Building on the extensive efforts for unity with the Orthodox carried out by Pope St. John Paul II during his pontificate, Pope Francis will make his own contribution to fulfill Jesus’ prayer on Holy Thursday, that his followers might always be one.

We should also add our prayers to the efforts of the Holy Father to encourage the search for peace in the Middle East.

He has called for renewed efforts and negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. But very deep tensions continue to flow from the decision in 1948 to create the state of Israel out of what was, at the time, simply Palestine.

Diplomatic efforts have been made, on and off, for decades, trying to resolve questions like the recognition of the existence of the state of Israel, the question of land rights and settlements, as well as the high level of poverty among the Palestinians.

Efforts to build a lasting peace are further complicated by the fact that Israel borders on the country of Syria, which dominates as well Lebanon, another neighbor to Israel.

The pope is also going to visit a refugee camp while in neighboring Jordan. We can expect the Holy Father to continue to direct the eyes and the conscience of the world to the situation of those who have been forced to flee their homelands.

Also present will be young people with disabilities. Again, we shall see Pope Francis reminding the world that we are bound to care for those most in need and to see the image of God in all of our brothers and sisters.

As part of the search for peace and religious understanding, the pope will also meet with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, one of the leaders of Islam in the Holy Land, as well as with the chief rabbis of Israel. He will also visit the president of the state of Israel.

Finally, the Holy Father will be present to the Catholic community of the Holy Land.

He will offer Mass in Manger Square, where Jesus was born, in the Cenacle where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper, and he will visit the site venerated as the place where Jesus was baptized.

This element of the apostolic visit reminds us of the very human roots of our faith. The Christians and Catholics in the Holy Land are a linkage to our spiritual ancestors, the first to hear the message of Jesus and to have known him in the flesh.

This week, I hope you will join me in praying for the safety of Pope Francis.

Papal travel is always a complicated endeavor. But as we know, the Holy Father prizes personal contact with the faithful, sometimes at the cost of measures for his personal safety.

As he travels in this volatile part of the world, let’s pray that God guide his efforts, open the hearts of those whom he meets and bring him back safe and well when the trip is done.