In Istanbul on Nov. 30, Pope Francis stated unequivocally that “full communion” was his goal with the 300-million-member Orthodox churches. He added that the only condition for achieving that unity is “the shared profession of faith.” Significantly, seeking to overcome suspicion and fears, he re-assured the Orthodox that such unity does not in any way mean “the submission of one to the other, or assimilation.” The pope spoke at the end of the solemn Orthodox eucharistic celebration for the feast of St. Andrew in the 300-year-old church of Saint George in the Fanar, Istanbul. “The one thing that the Catholic Church desires, and that I seek as bishop of Rome, ‘the church which presides in charity,’ is communion with the Orthodox churches,” he told the assembly in his homily. He assured Patriarch Bartholomew I and the Orthodox churches that “to reach the desired goal of full unity, the Catholic Church does not intend to impose any conditions except that of the shared profession of faith.”
In Search of Unity
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
In this homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), Year C, the Rev. Hank Hilton draws on ancient philosophy, childhood boat rides on the Jersey Shore and his mother’s steady wisdom to reflect on the transformative power of Christ’s kindness.
My primary problem with the parade wasn’t just that it broke a norm. My problem is that it reminded me how easily we tell ourselves comforting stories instead of asking hard questions.
The USCCB wrote a letter to Congress on May 20 mildly refuting certain aspects of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.
Two new books give a multi-hued portrait of Seamus Heaney as he pursued a late-20th-century vocation as a public advocate of poetry and as a somewhat private advocate of Catholicism as a folk culture.