Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of roughly 300 million Orthodox Christians, is due to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Oct. 23 amid growing congressional scrutiny of religious freedom for minority groups in Turkey, Al-Monitor has learned.

Sources speaking on condition of strict anonymity told Al-Monitor that the patriarch, a Turkish citizen, would be having breakfast with Turkey’s new ambassador to Washington, Murat Mercan, during his visit to Washington. This suggests that Ankara — probably at Mercan’s urging — has opted to not have a hissy fit over the fact that the 81-year-old patriarch has been invited to the White House ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mercan will not be present at the audience, the sources said. The Greek Archdiocese of America did not respond to Al-Monitor’s request for comment.

Since taking office, Biden has made a deliberate show of keeping the Turkish leader at arm’s length. Although Turkey is a NATO ally, Biden called Erdogan for the first time on April 23 to give him advance warning that he would be using the term “genocide” in the White House’s annual message to mark the April 24 anniversary of the mass slaughter of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915. The pair did eventually meet on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels in June, and the Biden administration has toned down its earlier critiques of Erdogan. Turkey’s apparent inability to get rid of Russian-made S-400 missiles, however, continues to poison ties.

Biden is known to have a soft spot for the patriarch, whom he visited at the patriarchal seat in Istanbul in 2011 when he was vice president. The men share a common concern for the environment. On Sept. 7, Bartholomew I penned a joint appeal with Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby outlining the mounting perils posed by climate change.