January 20, 2006

VATICAN CITY – This is the year to relaunch the dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, says an article in L'Osservatore Romano.

The report of Monsignor Eleuterio Fortino, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, published in Thursday's Italian edition of the newspaper, explained that relations between these Churches have been unblocked in the last few months.

Next Sept. 18-25, the Serbian Orthodox Church will host the plenary session of a mixed commission made up of representatives of the Catholic Church and various Orthodox Churches, the works of which have been at a standstill since a meeting in 2000.

That meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, ended without an agreement because of discrepancies "over the theological concept of Uniatism," the principle by which the Eastern Churches that share the liturgy and traditions of the Orthodox Churches have joined the Church of Rome, recalled Monsignor Fortino.

Nonetheless, that meeting was useful, acknowledged the article.

"It concretized the authentic nature of the problem under discussion," stated Monsignor Fortino. "The birth of the Catholic Eastern Churches is profoundly linked to the affirmation of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in the Church of Christ."

Therefore, the "primacy of the Church" will be one of the key topics for the future of the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.

Patriarch's part

The Belgrade meeting will take place, as the article reports, thanks to the commitment of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. Last September the patriarch brought together the designated representatives of the Orthodox Churches for the dialogue with the Catholic Church.

That meeting's final communiqué explained that "for the topics that affect the faith it is indispensable that unity be sought in the ambit prior to the schism" of 1054.

>From Dec. 13-15, 2005, the mixed commission met in Rome to prepare the Belgrade meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the Catholic and Orthodox representatives were received by Benedict XVI, who said that in this new phase of dialogue two aspects will have to be considered.

"On the one hand," he said, "eliminating the remaining differences, and on the other, upholding the fundamental desire to do everything possible to re-establish full communion, which is so essential for the community of the disciples of Christ, as the preparatory document of your work makes clear."

Patriarch Bartholomew I has invited Benedict XVI to visit Turkey, a pastoral visit that might help spur Catholic-Orthodox dialogue in 2006.

The article published by L'Osservatore Romano is the first of a series to assess the ecumenical relations between the Catholic Church and the other Christian confessions, in the context of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

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