The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, stated on September 4 in Budapest that he hopes for the restoration of full communion between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, arguing that the path to unity must recover the common experience of the first millennium of Christianity. The statements were made during the 27th International Congress of the Society for the Law of Eastern Churches, dedicated to the theme «The Bishop of Rome: future horizons from ancient traditions for Catholics and Orthodox».
Bartholomew recalled a well-known reflection by Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, according to which Rome could not demand from the East, in matters of primacy, more than what was formulated and lived during the first millennium of the Church. The Patriarch also highlighted the definition of the Pope as one who «presides in love», used by Patriarch Athenagoras in 1967, considering that the Orthodox tradition understands Roman primacy as a service exercised within the communion of sister Churches.
The leader of the Ecumenical Patriarchate valued the recovery, in 2024, of the papal title «Patriarch of the West», classifying it as a small but significant step on the path of Christian unity. He likewise expressed hope that the ancient communion between Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem may one day be restored, allowing the historic Pentarchy to once again be complete.
The statements occurred during the inauguration of the new Orthodox Center for Christian Dialogue «Fanarion» in Budapest, conceived as a permanent space for encounter between Orthodox, other Christians and different religious traditions.
