Meeting of the coordinating committee of the Joint Commission for Dialogue Between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches
21.12.2005 · Архив 2005-2009, События
The coordinating committee of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches met from December 13 to 15, 2005, in Rome. The aim of the meeting was to prepare the next meeting of the Joint Commission, which interrupted its work in 2000 because of considerable difference between the Orthodox and the Catholics in understanding of the Unia.
The coordinating committee is made up of 10 representatives of Orthodox Churches and 10 representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. It is co-chaired by Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The Moscow Patriarchate is represented in the committee by Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church at European international organizations.
On December 14, the Orthodox and Catholic parts of the committee sat separately discussing the agenda of the meeting. As Bishop Hilarion pointed out, the Russian Orthodox Church continued to give priority to the discussion on the ecclesiological and canonical implications of the unia – the item on which no agreement was reached by the parties.
In the course of a joint session that followed, an exchange of opinions took place on the continuation of the dialogue. The sides agreed on the need to continue the dialogue on the theme of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Unia, but it was pointed out that both themes should be considered in a general ecclesiological context. The results of the meeting were reflected in a communiquй.
On December 15, the members of the coordinating committee were received in audience by Pope Benedict XVI, who in his address emphasized the need to continue the dialogue so that the lost unity between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church might be restored.
The plenary session of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches will take place from September 18 to 25, 2006, in Belgrade, at the invitation of the Serbian Orthodox Church.