A Long Overdue Reunion

Courtesy of the NY Times:

Efforts to reunite the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, split for nearly 1,000 years, took a cautious step forward as a joint commission agreed that the pope has primacy over bishops of both churches. But a declaration, to be officially released today, states that the two sides had not agreed on exactly what authority the pope might exercise if the churches came together again. Pope Benedict XVI has declared full communion between the churches a central goal of his papacy, though relations with the Russian Orthodox have proved particularly difficult. The Russian church did not approve the new document.