Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew have today issued a landmark joint declaration from the Phanar, calling for full communion between “our sister Churches.”
In a statement which brings the world's 300 million Orthodox and 1.4 billion Catholics together, the two prelates expressed hope that the two Churches might one day share in the unity prayer for by Jesus in John 17:20 when he asks “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”
They also committed themselves to sustained theological dialogue aimed at overcoming “obstacles that prevent the restoration of full communion”, and called for “new and courageous steps” in that direction.
Crucially, they also addressed the long-standing issue of the date of Easter, affirming their “shared desire to continue the process of exploring a possible solution for celebrating together the Feast of Feasts every year”, signalling intent to re-examine the separate calendars that have historically kept East and West apart.
This is not the first time such aspirations have arisen. The use of different paschalions, the Western Gregorian versus the Julian-based Orthodox reckoning, has long kept Easter on different Sundays. Scholars note that the continuing Orthodox reliance on the astronomically inaccurate Julian vernal equinox remains a major barrier.
The timing of the statement is significant. The two Churches invoked the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the 60th anniversary of the lifting of the 1054 anathemas, using these milestones to emphasise what once bound them together: doctrinal clarity, common creedal confession, and a shared Christian identity.
The deeper issue behind this declaration is not the Easter date, nor the diplomatic invocation of “sister Churches.” The question is whether the Catholic Church can pursue unity without diluting the truths that make unity meaningful, principles already asserted plainly in previous articles.
Ecclesial reconciliation cannot be built on ambiguity. The Church exists to teach revealed truth, not to moderate or negotiate it. Genuine unity cannot be achieved by accommodating the spirit of the age and it must arise from fidelity to the deposit of faith.
Their statement affirmed continuity with decades of hopeful but frequently vague diplomatic ecumenism. Bartholomew and Leo XIV reiterated their desire to pursue “the restoration of full communion”, inviting the faithful to heed the Lord’s prayer “that they may all be one”, and noting that, by coincidence, East and West share the same Easter date in 2025.
They invoked confronting “the challenges of our age” together. And yet long-unresolved tensions persist, the Orthodox rejection of papal primacy as defined by Vatican I, divergences in sacramental discipline, and the continued Orthodox use of the Julian paschalion, which makes a permanent shared Easter date mathematically implausible.
These obstacles are genuine. They are doctrinal, not mere historical grievances awaiting resolution through politeness or goodwill.
Catholics should respond with both gratitude and vigilance. Gratitude, for charity toward separated brethren is always good; vigilance, for warmth can obscure theological clarity. The Pope is custodian of doctrine, not its compiler, and unity must follow conversion, not concession.
Unity is desirable, but unity grounded in truth is the only unity that is real. Where doctrine is forgotten, Christ Himself is forgotten. Christendom will not be saved by diplomacy, but by the revealed truth to which the Church alone remains bound.
Photo: Pope Leo XIV participates in a doxology, or hymn of praise, alongside Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George on November 29, 2025 in Istanbul, Turkey. By Burak Kara/Getty Images.
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