By Matthew Trojacek

The dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, already put in crisis by the latter’s support for the invasion of Ukraine, is becoming more complicated after the release of the document Fiducia supplicans on blessing same-sex couples. Here, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, on a peace mission to Moscow on Pope Francis’ behalf, speaks with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. (Photo/Russian Orthodox Church, Department for External Church Relations)

Pope Francis reinstates papal title “Patriarch of the West” in Pontifical Yearbook

In the 2024 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, or Pontifical Yearbook, released April 9, Pope Francis reinstated the ancient, honorary pontifical title of “Patriarch of the West,” reversing Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 decision to suspend the title.

This honorific designation has reappeared among the list of “historical titles” used to designate the theological and temporal reality of the pontifical office. Those include Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, and Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Rome, among others.

Following Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to drop the title in 2006, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (then the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) issued a statement noting that it had become “obsolete” and “no longer usable.”

The title “Patriarch of the West” was adopted in the year 642 by Pope Theodore and was used for centuries, though it was not until 1863, during the pontificate of Pope Pius IX, that the title first appeared in the Annuario Pontificio. (CNA)

Russian Orthodox Church: Dialogue with the Catholic Church difficult

The dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches is now difficult because of the latter’s attitude towards same-sex unions, Metropolitan Anthony (Sevryuk), chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Easter.

“We have been conducting a dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church for many years. But today this dialogue is significantly more difficult,” he said. The dialogue, he added, is complicated by the Vatican document Fiducia supplicans on blessing same-sex couples.

The vicar general of Moscow’s Catholic archdiocese, Fr. Kirill Gorbunov, told RIA Novosti in response that the blessing of people in same-sex unions does not mean the Church legitimizes or recognizes such unions. (Pravoslavie)

Pope asks India’s Eastern Rite Church to solve its liturgy dispute

The Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of some 5 million, based in southern Kerala state, India, faces the threat of a split after a majority of priests and laity in its Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese persistently refused to follow a uniform rubric of Mass – with the priest facing the altar – that the synod introduced in 1999.

An apparent majority of the faithful want the celebrant to face the congregation throughout the Mass, as has been their practice since 1970. As the synod pressed for compliance, they sought to become an independent Church directly under the Pope.

Pope Francis addressed the leaders of the Church’s synod, including the Church’s head, Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, on May 13.

“I wish to help you, not supersede you, because the nature of your Church is sui iuris (self-governing),” the Pope told the members of the hierarchy. But the Pope urged the Church leaders to “keep the doors open” to those who have rebelled. (UCANews)

Pope Francis: Young people “can break the chains of antagonism” between Catholics, Orthodox

Pope Francis has placed in young people his hope that Catholics and Orthodox may be “united in diversity” and “break the chains” of antagonism, misunderstanding, and prejudice that have kept them prisoners for centuries.

In an audience on May 16, the Holy Father received the director-general of the Apostolikí Diakonía – the official publishing house – of the Orthodox Church of Greece, Metropolitan Agathangelos, and a delegation from the Theological College of Athens.

The Holy Father expressed his gratitude for the collaboration between Apostolikí Diakonía and the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

He also addressed a particular greeting to the archbishop of Athens and all Greece, His Beatitude Ieronymos II, who was present at the audience and whom the pontiff described as “a man of deep faith and a wise pastor.” (CNA)

Cardinal Fernández meets with Coptic Church leader over same-sex blessing rift

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who heads the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), met with the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church to ease tensions over the recent Vatican declaration that permits non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples.

In March — less than three months after the DDF published the December 18, 2023, declaration Fiducia Supplicans — the Coptic Orthodox Church suspended dialogue with the Catholic Church amid concerns about the blessings.

In a meeting with Coptic Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria on Wednesday, May 22, Fernández told Tawadros that the Catholic Church remains opposed to marriage for same-sex couples and emphasized that non-liturgical blessings cannot be performed in a way that would confuse the blessing with a marriage, according to Vatican News.

The cardinal further affirmed that the Holy See agrees with the Coptic Orthodox Church’s March 7 statement, which affirmed the “firm position of rejecting all forms of homosexual relationships, because they violate the holy Bible and the law by which God created man as male and female.” It added that “the [Coptic] Church considers any blessing of such relations, whatever its type, to be a blessing for sin, and this is unacceptable.” (CNA)

A session of the Ukrainian Parliament called in recent days to legislate on the legitimacy of the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in favor of the Russian invader

Antioch Patriarch’s Church in India faces threat of split

Fifty thousand Christians in the Archdiocese at Chingavanam in India’s Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, based in southern Kerala state, are divided after Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Aprem II suspended their Archbishop Severios Kuriakose May 17.

At a May 21 emergency meeting, the archdiocesan members declared the suspension of their Metropolitan illegal, saying “The Patriarch has only spiritual powers and no power to deal with temporal matters, including dismissing our Metropolitan.”

The archdiocese is part of the larger Knanaya Christian community in Kerala, who claim to descend from a group of Jewish-Christian emigrants from Cana in Southern Mesopotamia. The migrants are believed to have landed on the Kerala coast in AD 345. (UCANews)

Ukraine Parliament moves to ban Ukrainian Orthodox Church

On May 6, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) posted on its website a “comparative table” for Draft Law 8371 which includes the original one and one-half pages of its first version, submitted by the Prime Minister of Ukraine on January, 2023, and a brief summary of each of the 1,260 amendments that were offered following the first reading of 8371 on October 19, 2023.

The latest version, 22 pages long, is the third version of 8371, adopted on April 4, 2024. The second version, 20 pages in length, was adopted on March 5, 2024, after considering the many amendments submitted by deputies. The full text of the second version was never posted on the Internet.

Although none of the three versions referred to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by name, both deputies in the Rada and the Ukrainian media have repeatedly referred to 8371 as a law to ban the UOC.

In accomplishing this goal, the second and third versions take a different approach than the original version in establishing the criteria for banning a religious organization. In the original version, the key provision was as follows: “Activities of religious organizations that are affiliated with the centers of influence of a religious organization (association), the governing center (control) of which is located outside of Ukraine in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine, are not allowed.” This ambiguous provision was construed by the UOC and many others to mean that the activities of the UOC could only be prohibited if its “governing center (control)” is located in Russia.

This interpretation provided some optimism to the UOC that it would escape the sanctions imposed by 8371, because there is no evidence that the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is in fact controlling the decisions of the UOC after the UOC’s Local Council of May 2022.

Faced with the possibility that the UOC might escape the sanctions of 8371, the Draft Law was changed to make it certain that the UOC could not escape; language was added that a religious organization is not allowed to operate if it is simply “affiliated” with a Russian religious organization.

On February 1, 2023, an “Expert Group” found that a Church-canonical connection did exist and that the UOC was part of the ROC.

The latest version of 8371 has been reviewed by the Main Legal Department of the Rada and concludes that “the draft law can be adopted in the second reading, taking into account the comments of the Main Legal Department.” (Peter Anderson)