Written by
Metropolitan Job of Pisidia
Co-Chair of the Joint International Commission on theological dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

For a few days, the eyes of the world were turned toward the Phanar for Pope Leo XIV’s first-ever trip abroad, his visit to the see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and his official meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. This meeting was the subject of much commentary on various aspects. We will attempt here to emphasize the significance of this historical encounter and what the future might hold.

It should be emphasized from the outset that this was not the first visit of a Pope to the Phanar, nor the first joint declaration signed by a pope and an ecumenical patriarch. Indeed, Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis of blessed memory have all visited the see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, where they were received by the Ecumenical Patriarchs Athenagoras, Dimitrios, and Bartholomew, and each of these meetings was the occasion for the signing of a joint declaration on the commitment of the two Churches to their rapprochement and their quest for the restoration of ecclesial communion.

Such encounters are the result of a historical event that took place exactly sixty years ago: the lifting of the regrettable anathemas of the year 1054 between the sees of Rome and Constantinople which took place during a ceremony simultaneously celebrated in Rome in St. Peter’s Basilica and in the patriarchal church at the Phanar on 7th of December 1965. In their joint declaration, Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras declared that they

“regret and remove both from memory and from the midst of the Church the sentences of excommunication […], and they commit these excommunications to oblivion.” (Common declaration, 4B).”

What does this mean in practical terms? It means that there is no complete schism between the two Churches and that they find themselves in the same state of broken communion they were in at the beginning of the 11th century. What was the cause of that? The addition of the Filioque clause to the symbol of faith (creed) by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.

But let us return to the meeting of Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew which more or less providentially coincided with the anniversary of the lifting of the anathemas and which, above all, had been placed under the aegis of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. It is significant that in his apostolic letter (encyclical) In Unitate Fidei, promulgated a few days before his first trip, on 23 November 2025, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Pope Leo XIV quotes the phrase from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed without the Filioque, and noting in footnote 10 following this quote: “The statement ‘and proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque)’ is not found in the text of Constantinople; it was inserted into the Latin Creed by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014 and is a subject of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue.” This remark, in a papal encyclical, is of paramount importance because the official recognition of this addition by the Pope himself puts an end to a millennium of controversy that has contributed to deepening the abyss of division between the two Churches.

At the common prayer of November 28th, celebrating the anniversary of Nicaea, on the very site where it took place, presided by Pope Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the presence of the Patriarch of Alexandria, official delegates of the ancient Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem, and representatives of all the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Protestant World Christian communions, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was recited together without the addition of the Filioque. Of course, this also did not happen for the first time. Already in 1987, during the official visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios to Rome, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was recited in the original Greek without the Filioque by both Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch. The same happened with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis at several official liturgical occasions. This proves that the Filioque is not a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church: otherwise these three popes ought to be considered as heretics by their own Church. Very recently, during the ecumenical commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century presided by Pope Leo XIV at the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls in Rome on September 14, 2025, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was recited, in Latin, without the Filioque!

These are the fruits of the theological dialogue to which the Churches are committed for more than forty years. Already in 2003, an important document of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation entitled: “The Filioque: A Church Dividing Issue? An Agreed Statement,” recommended that the Roman Catholic Church use the original Greek text alone, the Filioque, in making translations of that Creed for catechetical and liturgical use. The same was repeated last year (2024) in a Common Statement of the Joint International Commission on Theological Dialogue between the Lutheran World Federation and the Orthodox Church on the addition of the Filioque clause to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol of faith, which suggested “that the translation of the Greek original (without the Filioque) be used in the hope that this will contribute to the healing of age-old divisions between our communities and enable us to confess together the faith of the Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381).” This gives us great hope for the future restoration of Christian unity on the basis of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed which was considered by the Church, at least since the 5th century, as a universal symbol of faith.

As indicated on various occasions by Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which has the official mandate of both Churches to work for the restoration of full ecclesial communion between the two Churches, is currently examining the issues of infallibility and the Filioque. In affirming in his address to Pope Leo on November 30th that “we can only pray that issues such as the “filioque” and infallibility (…) will be resolved such that their understanding no longer serve as stumbling blocks to the communion of our Churches,” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew did not ask the Pope for more than he can give, but gave hope that the restoration of communion between the two Churches, interrupted a millennium ago, could soon be re-established provided that the divided Christians grant their goodwill to this end.

Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, whose see is in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera, teaches Oriental Liturgies at the Catholic University of Paris. He is the Co-Chair of the Joint International Commission on theological dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church and the Vice-Moderator of the Faith and Order Commission. He is the author of many books, two of which are The Typikon Decoded (SVS Press, 2012) and The Euchologion Unveiled (SVS Press, 2021).

Source: Public Orthodoxy