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Meg Rowan's avatar

I pray for the reunification of East and West. These stories give me hope! Thank you for this reporting.

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Matthew K Michels, OblSB's avatar

I must stress that this is a VERY important document! The Primacy of Rome and its relationship to other churches (or, more simply put, the question of "The Papacy") is pretty much the last significant friction point that remains an obstacle to reunion between East and West, from what many Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics have commented. The fact that this document is a big step towards commonality on that question is no small matter.

Right now, Rome needs to seriously invest a huge amount of resources and focus into Catholic-Orthodox dialogue and efforts and reunion. This is the PERFECT time to capitalize on reunion; we are currently in an era whe:

-increasing global secularization is making allies of of former Catholic-Orthodox enemies

-Catholic and Ortodox laity both see themselves as essentially the same now and desire reunification, and

-the MAJOR internal disputes of the Orthodox world have been warming many patriarchs and metropolitans to the unity of Catholicism's ecclesial structure.

Case in point: I was recently travelling in Macedonia last month, where I met a local woman at a famous Orthoox Church in Ohrid (she's often there to give tours and help maintain the church). We struck up a conversation because she noticed I was an American tourist but was venerating icons and stuff. When she found out I was Catholic, she told me that we were basically the same and to them there weren't big differences anymore. She was no provincial simpleton, either: this woman spoke 5 languages and had good higher education. The fact that she and many others actively want to see Rome and the East reunited is a significant litmus test.

Rome ought to be dropping everything else ecuminism-related to hyper-focus on Orthodox outreach and dialogue towards reunion right now. We could see entire patriarchates reunite in our lifetime if we really tried. But sadly, I fear the current pontificate will drop the ball on this opportunity (as it has done with nearly everything diplomacy-related).

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