Pope Leo XIV has taken as his motto \u201cIn Illo uno unum\u201d: In the one Christ we are one. Last November he joined Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and other Orthodox representatives to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea. The pope and the ecumenical patriarch affirmed in a joint declaration their churches\u2019 orientation toward \u201cthe hoped-for restoration of full communion.\u201d Even Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who leads one of the Orthodox churches most skeptical about Rome, has expressed hope that relations \u201cwill progressively develop for a joint witness to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These symbolic gestures don\u2019t directly address the longstanding theological barriers, but there has been some progress over the past several years. The 2023 Alexandria Document was an important step toward a joint understanding of papal authority, though not all Orthodox churches ratified the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patriarch Bartholomew, for his part, has prayed that the obstacles of the filioque\u2014Rome\u2019s teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, rather than from the Father alone\u2014and papal infallibility be resolved so that they \u201cno longer serve as stumbling blocks to the communion of our churches.\u201d The patriarch mentioned these two obstacles intentionally, and a joint international commission plans to examine them head-on over the next several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But reunion is the work of all believers, not just hierarchs and theologians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> From @WSJopinion: Two churches divided by a common faith. The estrangement between Orthodox Christians and Catholics is a scandal, writes Dmitri Solzhenitsyn.\nhttps:\/\/t.co\/wUfuzWTElQ<\/p>— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 16, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>\n