Catholic-Orthodox expert says churches must agree on papal primacy

Published: 2005-10-20

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- An expert on Catholic-Orthodox relations said current disputes could not be resolved unless the two churches first agreed on the issue of papal primacy. "There can be no advance in dialogue without a theological and ecclesiological solution to the problem of primacy," said Father Waclaw Hryniewicz, director of the Ecumenical Institute at Poland's Catholic University of Lublin. "If the Orthodox agree to discuss this before tackling other divisive questions, this would be a significant new approach." The priest, a member of the mixed international Catholic-Orthodox commission established in 1980, said commission members were expected to begin preliminary talks again in December after not meeting since July 2000. The priest said he welcomed conciliatory signs from both churches since the election of Pope Benedict XVI. "New people mean new initiatives -- there's clearly been some serious rethinking and a new sensitivity on unsettled issues," said Father Hryniewicz.

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