Pope of Rome request prayers for Orthodox-Catholic dialogue

Apologies for wording. It's an automated translation from Italian as the official English version has not yet been posted.

---

ROME, Wednesday, September 22, 2010 (zenit.org) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called on all the Catholic faithful to pray for the success of the dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, who these days goes into a new and important phase.

This week it takes place in Vienna (Austria), the 12th plenary meeting of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church as a whole, a meeting prepared for a long time.

"The theme of the current phase of study is the role of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of the universal Church, with particular reference to the first millennium of Christian history," said the Pope

"Obedience to the will of the Lord Jesus, and the consideration of the great challenges that present themselves to Christianity, oblige us to engage seriously in the cause of restoration of full communion between the Churches."

Pope urges everyone to "pray intensely for the Commission's work and for continuous development and consolidation of peace and harmony among the baptized, that we give the world a more authentic witness to the Gospel."

The Commission is seeking a common reading of the historical facts and testimonies concerning the Petrine primacy in the first millennium to achieve a desirable and possible shared interpretation.

The convergence of historical interpretation of the Petrine primacy in the first millennium could help advance the dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox on the key issue that separates them: the exercise of the primacy of the Pope

The session, which is being held September 20 to 27, addresses the theme for the second time, which was also at the center of the previous meeting of the Mixed Commission, held in Cyprus in 2009.

In more general terms - not focused on a historical period - the question of primacy in the universal Church is located at the center of the current phase of dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox opened the plenary session in Ravenna in 2007.

In that meeting, recalls, "L'Osservatore Romano", the Commission approved a document entitled "the ecclesiological and canonical consequences of the sacramental nature of the Church: Ecclesial Communion, conciliarity and authority", which addresses the relationship between conciliation and authority in the Church at three levels: local, regional and universal.

In each level, he says, there is Protos, a primus (Bishop, Metropolitan, Patriarch, Bishop of Rome).

Entering into the issue more directly under the protos universal - the current Pope of Rome - the document states that Catholics and Orthodox agree that Rome, as the Church which presides in charity, occupied first place in the taxis and the Bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs "(Ravenna Document, n. 41).

The same document indicates the next stage of the dialogue: the question of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of all churches.

To develop it, the Joint Committee has prepared a draft work. First, it was decided that attention should focus on the first millennium, when the Christians of East and West were united.

Therefore, in early 2008, two joint subcommittees - one English and one French-speaking - have worked to gather the most characteristic elements of the historical period under consideration.

In the fall of that year, the Joint Coordination Committee met to prepare the draft document to the Plenary of the Joint Commission, which was referred to Cyprus in 2009.

In the plenary session that is taking place now in the Austrian capital, the Commission resumed consideration of the draft document on the specific function of the bishop of the "first home" during the first millennium.

The Commission is composed of two representatives from each of the autocephalous Orthodox churches and an equal number of Catholic members.

Conduct the meeting, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Bishop Kurt Koch, the Metropolitan of Pergamon, Ioannis (Zizioulas) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.