FDC France COUNCIL OF EUROPE 2007 Patriarch of Constantinople BARTHOLOMEW I (CE58-I)

Pope Francis visit to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe

On 25 November 2014, Pope Francis made an official visit to the Council of Europe and the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. He is the second Pope, after John Paul II in 1988, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, to have addressed Members of the European Parliament at a solemn session.

Responding to an invitation from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland during a private audience at the Vatican, His Holiness addressed the Organisation at a solemn session of all its institutions, as the Council celebrates its 65th anniversary.

A philatelic envelope, designed by Historiaphil© (Philately Kiosk of the European Parliament, Strasbourg, France) commemorates the highlights of the Strasbourg session of the Council of Europe. It was produced as a continuation of the collection of philatelic envelopes bearing witness since 1949 to the history of Europe and its institutions. This edition is limited and numbered.