Catholic–Armenian cathedral dedicated in 2015 to the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide On 18 February 2001, Pope John Paul II during his
Angelus address commemorated the 1,700th anniversary of the
baptism of the Armenian people and referred to St.
Gregory of Narek () as "the great doctor of the Armenian Church." In September 2001, John Paul II traveled to Armenia and participated in an ecumenical liturgy at the newly consecrated
Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator in
Yerevan. On 12 April 2015, on
Divine Mercy Sunday, during a Mass for the
centennial of the
Armenian genocide at
St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis officially proclaimed St. Gregory of Narek as a Doctor of the Church in attendance of Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos of All Armenians
Karekin II, Catholicos of Cilicia
Aram I, and Armenian Catholic Patriarch
Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni. He became the 36th and the first Armenian Doctor of the Church. He is also the only Doctor "who was not in communion with the Catholic Church during his lifetime."
Cathedral of the Holy Martyrs () in
Gyumri, Armenia, the cathedral for the
Armenian Catholic Ordinariate for Armenia, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern Europe was consecrated by
Krikor Bedros XX Gabroyan,
Catholicos-
Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church, and Cardinal
Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches, on 24 September 2015. The ceremony was held as part of the commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The cathedral is named "Holy Martyrs" in memory of victims of the Armenian Genocide, as the
Armenian Apostolic Church canonized them as martyrs. On 25 June 2016,
Pope Francis, accompanied by
Catholicos Karekin II, visited the cathedral. On 26 June 2016, Catholicos Karekin II and Pope Francis signed a joint declaration on the
family. It stated that the
secularization of society and its "alienation from the
spiritual and
divine" are damaging to the family, and affirmed that the
Catholic and Armenian Apostolic churches share a
marriage–based view of the family. The declaration also took note of various positive steps taken towards unity between the two leaders' churches, and "acknowledged the successful 'new phase' in relations" between them. It also lamented "immense tragedy" of the widespread
persecution of
Christians in the Middle East; the Pope and the Catholicos prayed "for a change of heart in all those who commit such crimes and those who are in a position to stop the violence". On 5 April 2018, a two-meter-high bronze statue of St. Gregory of Narek, erected by Davit Yerevantsi, was unveiled at the
Vatican Gardens by
Mikael Minasyan, Armenia's Ambassador to the Holy See. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Pope Francis, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian Apostolic catholicoi Karekin II and Aram I. In September 2018, Archbishop
Khajag Barsamian was appointed in early September as the first-ever representative of the Apostolic Armenian Church to the Holy See.
Coptic–Greek In the summer of 2001, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria agreed to mutually recognize baptisms performed in each other's churches, making re-baptisms unnecessary, and to recognize the sacrament of marriage as celebrated by the other.
Catholic–Anglican in
Houston, Texas, the mother church of the
Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, elevated to the status of
cathedral in 2015 when
Steven J. Lopes became the first bishop of the ordinariate Pope John Paul II officially called off all future talks between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion upon the consecration of Gene Robinson as a bishop in 2003. In conversation with the Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar, Cardinal
Walter Kasper, president of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, warned that if the Church of England was to ordain women as bishops, as the
Episcopal Church had already done, then it could destroy any chance of reuniting the Catholic and Anglican churches. In December 2014,
Libby Lane was announced as the first woman to become a bishop in the Church of England. She was consecrated as a bishop in January 2015. In July 2015,
Rachel Treweek was the first woman to become a diocesan bishop in the Church of England when she became the
Bishop of Gloucester. She and
Sarah Mullally, Bishop of Crediton, were the first women to be ordained as bishops at
Canterbury Cathedral. In late 2009, in response to requests from various groups of Anglicans around the world who were dissatisfied with liberalizing movements within the Anglican Communion, Pope Benedict XVI issued the
apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. This document invites groups of traditionalist Anglicans to form what are termed "Anglican ordinariates" or "
personal ordinariates" under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, while preserving elements of the liturgical, musical, theological and other aspects of their Anglican patrimony. Under these terms, regional groupings of Anglican Catholics may apply for reception by the Holy See under the jurisdiction of an "
ordinary" (i.e. a bishop or priest) appointed by Rome to oversee the community. While being in a country or region which is part of the
Latin Church of the Catholic Church, these ordinaries will nonetheless retain aspects of the Anglican patrimony, such as married priests and traditional English choral music and liturgy. As of 2013, marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies a person from succeeding to the
British Crown. The explanation published when the bill had been introduced mentioned that those who had lost their places in the line of succession by marrying a Catholic would regain their places, but that those "with a realistic prospect of succeeding to the Throne" would not be affected. The first person in the new line of succession to be affected by this change when it came into effect was
George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, who had married a Catholic in 1988, and was restored to the line of succession in 34th place, after his father the Duke of Kent, although his Catholic children remain excluded. The provision of the
Act of Settlement requiring the monarch to be a Protestant continues, as the monarch remains the
Supreme Governor of the Church of England. On 13 October 2019, Pope Francis canonized Saint
John Henry Newman, a London-born priest who led the
Oxford Movement in the Church of England before converting to Catholicism and becoming an
Oratorian Father and eventually the
Cardinal-Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro. Newman is the first Englishman who has lived since the 17th century to be officially recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church. In attendance at the canonization ceremony in St. Peter Square was
Charles, Prince of Wales, who in 2022 would become king and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Patriarch Bartholomew attended the
papal inauguration of Pope Francis on 19 March 2013, paving the way for better Catholic–Orthodox relations. It was the first time that the spiritual head of Eastern Orthodox Christians had attended a papal inauguration since the
Great Schism in 1054. After, he invited Pope Francis to travel with him to the Holy Land in 2014 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the embrace between
Patriarch Athenagoras and
Pope Paul VI. On 12 February 2016, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow met in a VIP room at
José Martí International Airport near Havana, Cuba. Francis arrived at 2 pm local time, and the two leaders embraced and kissed. A 2-hour private meeting was followed by the signing of a joint declaration, which had been prepared in advance. The
30-point declaration contained a joint call by the two church primates for an end to the
persecution of Christians in the Middle East and to wars in the region, expressing their hope that the meeting might contribute to the re-establishment of Christian unity between the two churches. A range of other issues are mentioned in the declaration, including
atheism, secularism, consumerism, migrants and refugees, the importance of marriage and the family, and concerns relating to abortion and
euthanasia. On 3 July 2019, it was revealed that during a Vatican meeting with Orthodox
Archbishop Job of Telmessos, who represented the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, during the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on 29 June 2019, Pope Francis stated that unity rather than leveling differences should be the goal between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Pope Francis also gave Bartholomew nine bone fragments which were believed to have belonged to
Saint Peter and which were displayed at a public Mass which was held in the Vatican in November 2013 to celebrate the
Year of Faith. on 4 July 2019, tensions between the Vatican and Russian Orthodox churches still remained, with Pope Francis stating that it is unlikely that he will visit Russia unless Putin agrees to not include the Russian Orthodox Church in the visit. Putin also stated to the Pope that he would not invite the Pope to Russia without this condition. Pope Francis also hinted that was willing to support the concerns of
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, At the beginning of a two-day Vatican meeting with Ukrainian Greek-Catholic leaders on 5 July 2019, Pope Francis hinted that he supported the Church's concerns in Ukraine and called for greater humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On 12 November 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew, the
Abbot of Xenophontos and a hieromonk from
Pantokratoros Monastery on
Mount Athos participated in a
Vespers service at the
Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, a
Trappist Catholic monastery. Upon returning with the abbots to Mount Athos, Bartholomew gave a speech at Pantokratoros Monastery declaring that union with the Catholic Church is inevitable as no theological differences exist between the churches and only historical differences have kept the two churches from union.
Catholic–Lutheran In 2016, on the 499th anniversary of the start of the
Protestant Reformation, Pope Francis travelled to Sweden (where the Lutheran Church is the
national Church) to commemorate the Reformation at
Lund Cathedral, which serves as the seat for the Lutheran
Bishop of Lund. An official press release from the
Holy See stated: Representatives from the Anglican Communion, Baptist World Alliance, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Salvation Army also participated in the predominantly Catholic and Lutheran event. Pope Francis, in a joint statement with Munib Younan, stated that "With gratitude we acknowledge that the Reformation helped give a greater centrality to sacred Scripture in the Church's life".
Catholic–Coptic On 28 April 2017, Pope Francis and
Coptic Pope Tawadros ll agreed that they would not require re-baptism for Catholics who seek to join the Coptic Orthodox Church, and vice versa. The Catholic Church baptizes by
affusion (pouring) and the Coptic Orthodox Church baptizes by immersion, but this declaration means that the two churches recognize each other's baptisms as a valid sacrament. ==Timeline==