Pope asks for prayers after Russian Orthodox walk out of dialogue

Published: 2007-10-11

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI asked for prayers for participants in the Catholic-Orthodox international theological dialogue after the Russian Orthodox delegation walked out of the meeting. "I ask you to join me in praying that this important meeting will help the journey toward full communion between Catholics and Orthodox and that we could soon share the same chalice of the Lord," the pope said Oct. 10 during his weekly general audience. Members of the dialogue commission were meeting Oct. 8-15 in Ravenna, Italy, to continue work begun a year ago on a document on the sacramental nature of the church and its consequences for the structure of the church and church decision-making. U.S. Cardinal William H. Keeler, retired archbishop of Baltimore and a member of the dialogue commission, told Catholic News Service Oct. 11, "I expect we will have the agreed statement ready by the end of the meeting," although commission members had not set a publication date. The document, he said, marks "substantial progress" in theological agreement among Catholics and Orthodox, and "I do not think the absence of the Russian Orthodox will hurt that."

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