VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis will visit Geneva in June, the Vatican confirmed.

His visit is meant help commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the World Council of Churches and show the Catholic Church’s support of the organization’s ecumenical initiatives, Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch told reporters at the Vatican.

The cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the visit June 21 “will be a sign of recognition of a unique contribution of the WCC to the modern ecumenical movement. It will be an expression of the personal commitment of the Holy Father to the goal of Christian unity as expressed on many occasions.”

Blessed Pope Paul VI visited the WCC in 1969, and St. John Paul II visited the headquarters in 1984.

Pope Francis’ visit to the WCC is an “ecumenical gesture” that will show “the continuous willingness of the Catholic Church to promote good relations with member churches and ecumenical partners of the WCC and to continue to respond together to the challenges of our time,” Cardinal Koch said.

The trip’s motto, he said, is “Walking – Praying – Working Together” to reflect the pope’s encouragement of seeing ecumenism as churches and Christians “walking together” in witnessing to their faith and in responding to the world’s most pressing needs.

The Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC but has an official dialogue with the council and cooperates with it in various programs.