Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill

The Great Schism of 1054 split Christianity between Greek East and Latin West. Since 1980, regular plenary sessions of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, the latter being led by the Church of Constantinople, had been held. in Jerusalem in 2014 Within the communion of the autocephalous (administratively independent) local (national) churches of Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople – based in what is now Turkey's Istanbul – is recognized as the bishop who enjoys primus inter pares status, albeit having no direct administrative powers over the other Orthodox churches. According to the ROC, it began a bilateral dialogue with the Catholic Church in 1967, and the ROC began a theological dialogue with the Catholic Church in 1979. In May 2005, Cardinal Walter Kasper proposed convoking "a synod of reconciliation" on the 1,000th anniversary of the Council of Bari in 2098, and proposed an alliance with Orthodox and Protestants against secularism. This alliance would "help one another mutually in favor of common values, of a culture of life, of the dignity of the person, of solidarity and social justice, of peace and the safeguarding of creation," according to Kasper. The possibility of a meeting of Kirill (elected Patriarch in 2009) with Benedict XVI had been explored prior to Benedict's retirement in March 2013, and Benedict met the future Patriarch Kirill in Rome in 2006 when Kirill was chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Moscow Patriarchate. ==Meeting in Havana==

Two years of secretive planning and months of detailed negotiation were necessary to arrange the meeting between Francis and Kirill. ==Joint declaration==

The joint declaration was published by the Holy See in Italian, Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic. The Russian Orthodox Church published it in Russian, English, Italian, French, Spanish, and Ukrainian. It consisted of 30 numbered sections on a range of topics. The first section of the declaration gives thanks for this meeting, "the first in history", and refers to the leaders as "brothers in the Christian faith". Sections 2 and 3 refer to their meeting place of Cuba as "the crossroads of North and South, East and West", and expressed joy at the growth of Christianity in Latin America. Sections 4–6 expresses their views on their shared spiritual tradition ("the first millennium of Christianity") and their hopes that their meeting "may contribute to the re-establishment of this unity willed by God". Sections 7–21 refer to "the challenges of the contemporary world". Issues raised include the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa; the impact of civil war, chaos, and terrorist violence; the exodus of Christians from Syria and Iraq; and the suffering experienced by the faithful of other religious traditions. The declaration refers to the renewal of the Christian faith in Russia and Eastern Europe and the "breaking of the chains of militant atheism", the rise of secularism, capitalism, consumerism, economic and social inequality, migrants and refugees, and the place of Christianity in the process of European integration. Further sections emphasize the importance of the family and marriage between one man and one woman, and their concerns relating to abortion, euthanasia, and "biomedical reproduction technology". The issues of the schism within the Orthodox community in Ukraine, the conflict between Ukraine's Catholic and Orthodox Christians, and the political situation in Ukraine are raised in sections 25–27. The closing sections call on Catholics and Orthodox to "work together fraternally in proclaiming the Good News of salvation" and to "give shared witness to the Spirit of truth in these difficult times". The declaration concludes with a prayer to Mary, who is invoked by the names of the "Blessed Virgin Mary" as well as "Holy Mother of God". ==Commentary and reactions==

The meeting was characterised by news media commentators, who were largely uninformed of the pivotal facts concerning the history of Christianity in Russia and tending toward sensationalism, as being "historic", "richly symbolic", Yury Avvakumov, assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, describes the Moscow Patriarchate as "an instrument of Russian international policy an effective transmitter worldwide of the political interests of the Russian rulers." The view that the meeting was motivated by internal Orthodox politics was expressed by George Demacopoulos, Greek-Orthodox chairman of Orthodox Christian studies at Fordham University in New York: "This isn't benevolence. It's not a newfound desire for Christian unity. ...It is almost entirely about (Kirill) posturing and trying to present himself as the leader of Orthodoxy." The New York Times states that for Francis, "the meeting was an ecumenical and diplomatic coup that eluded his predecessors", but that he could face criticism for indirectly providing support for the Russian military intervention in Syria and Ukraine. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, says he was disappointed and his church members felt "betrayed by the Vatican" over the declaration's stance regarding Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate also criticised the declaration; it states that the declaration ignores the opinion and position of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It also protests that the declaration had not stated that the War in Donbas was a Russian military intervention in Ukraine. ==Reactions inside the ROC==

According to ROC official documents, the most important goal of the Orthodox Church concerning non-Orthodox confessions is the restoration of the God-commanded Christian unity. Indifference to this task or its rejection is a sin against Jesus' command of unity. "maintain inter-confessional and interreligious relations," Kirill had reformed the administration of the ROC and consolidated authority in the ROC patriarch. Chapnin thinks fundamentalist rhetoric is "very emotional and of little substance." Kirill's spokesman, Priest , said these reactions stemmed from the fact that "people have not fully understood what occurred." Metropolitan pointed out that the declaration does not contain any doctrinal agreements or concessions from Orthodoxy to Catholicism. The presence of Western saints in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, Viktorin points out, is evidence of a millennium of common doctrine. "It would be a great mistake," Mercurius said, "to stop conversing with each other and to throw stones at one another." ==2019 meeting with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and renewed tensions ==

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 4 July 2019, Pope Francis also declared that he will not meet with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church if he were to accept an invitation to Russia. Despite having a history of good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Putin, who held a "cordial" meeting with Pope Francis when this was brought up, also stated to the Pope that he would not invite the Pope to Russia without this condition. ==Notes and further reading==