Dialogue between Christians should not be a
“merely a theoretical practice,” neither should it be limited to an
exchange of information to get to know one another better. It should
allow us to “learn” from one another, particularly when it comes to
prickly subjects such as Church authority and government.
During his meeting with delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, in Rome for Saturday’s feast of Sts Peter and Paul, Francis said that for Catholics, this meant above all being able to learn more from their Orthodox brothers and sisters about the “meaning of Episcopal collegiality, and the tradition of synodality, so typical of the Orthodox Churches.”
“I am confident that the effort of shared reflection, so complex and laborious, will bear fruit in due time,” the Pope added.
These are themes the Pope has already brought up in his meeting with leaders of the Synod of Bishops and have for years been central to the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue.
The Commission’s top Orthodox representative, the Metropolitan of Pergamon Ioannis Zizioulas, is leading the delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, on its current visit to Rome.
The meeting of the Joint Commission in 2007 led to the signing of the “Ravenna Document”.
For the first time in one thousand years, Eastern and Western Christians were in agreement over the relationship between bishops, their protos, or leader – i.e.: the Pope, Bishop of Rome – and the leader’s power and authority over all Christians.
The Commission is currently looking into how the primacy of the Bishop of Rome was articulated in the early centuries of Christianity, before the break between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Western Catholic Church.
The Orthodox did not let the fact that Francis referred to himself as Bishop of Rome, straight after his election, go unnoticed.
This morning the Pope recalled the Commission’s efforts to address “the delicate issue of the theological and ecclesiological relationship between primacy and synodality in the life of the Church.”
“It is significant that today we are able to reflect together, in truth and love, on these issues, starting with what we have in common, but without hiding that which still separates us,” Francis said.
In his speech, Pope Francis said he was glad that the dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches “does not seek theological minimalism on which to reach a compromise.”
Rather, it should be “based on the deepening of the one truth that Christ has given to His Church, which we never cease to understand better as we are moved by the Holy Spirit.”
“For this, we should not be afraid of encounter and of true dialogue. It does not take us away from the truth, but rather, through an exchange of gifts, it leads us, under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, to the whole truth,” Francis said.