[kosta50]

Looks like the key issues will be discussed. This may determine how the two Churches relate in the foreseeable future; whether they will converge or further diverge.

[kosta50]

Orthodox/Catholic ping...major issues to be discussed in Moscow this Fall.

Please no flaming...

[NYer]

Comments bolded by poster?

The new pontiff has from the outset emphasized the need for unity within Christendom, and has placed special emphasis on improving relations between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. He reiterated as much in his meeting last week with three metropolitans who represented the patriarch at celebrations marking the enthronement of Benedict XVI. Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamo, who headed the delegation, extended an invitation to the pope to visit Istanbul which, according to sources, was accepted.
Pope Benedict XVI accepts invitation to visit Phanar (Orthodox Church in Turkey)

[NYer]

History seen as a key to Catholic-Orthodox dialogue

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Catholics and Orthodox try to look at ways their exercise of authority diverged in the second millennium, an understanding of history is an important key, a Vatican official told an ecumenical conference in Washington June 22. Msgr. Johan Jozef Bonny, an official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and rector of the Belgian College in Rome, was one of the featured speakers at Orientale Lumen IX, held June 20-23 at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington. While the shared model of communion held by the churches of East and West in the first millennium stands as a guide and inspiration for a path toward unity, he said, East-West dialogue cannot ignore the changes in church governance since then and the real historical challenges leading to those changes. The conference is a yearly gathering of Orthodox and Catholic theologians and church leaders. It is named after Pope John Paul II's 1995 apostolic letter "Orientale Lumen" ("The Light of the East"), praising the riches of the churches of the East and urging a restoration of East-West church unity. This year's theme was "Structure of the Church East and West."

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