Posted by George Patsourakos
on 8/15/2009, 2:16 pm
A new document has been approved by a Vatican-Orthodox theological commission that has been working to heal the nearly 1,000-year schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, according to the Associated Press.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, who heads the Vatican's office of relations with other Christians, recently told a meeting of the world's cardinals that Catholic and Orthodox representatives agreed that the pope has primacy over all bishops -- although they disagreed over what authority that primacy gives the pope.
This agreement is very significant, since the Great Schism of 1054 -- which split Christianity into Catholic and Orthodox churches -- was primarily caused by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.
Cardinal Kasper told the cardinals that the document was an "important turning point," since it marked the first time that Orthodox churches had agreed there is a universal level of the church that has a primate, who according to ancient church practice, is the bishop of Rome (the pope).
Cardinal Kasper added, "We can say there's no longer a freeze, but a thaw" in uniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
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