A group of twenty or so Catholic and Orthodox theologians from all over the world is meeting behind closed doors in the Vatican till Saturday 24 May to discuss the primacy of Peter, one of the main obstacles to ecumenical dialogue. Promoted by Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, the international symposium aims, among other things, to analyse the biblical, patristic and historical aspects of the question. It’s “a meeting of experts from which no concrete proposals should be expected, but which is intended to make a contribution to ecumenical dialogue”, explained Cardinal Kasper. The Catholics present at the meeting include the German theologian Hermann Joseph Pottmeyer, the French Roland Minnerath and Father Dimitri Salachas, member of the international mixed theological Commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Orthodox Patriarchates of Constantinople, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro, and Bulgaria have each sent their own representatives. The Greek theologian Vlassios Phidas and Metropolitans Athanasius of Serbia and Domitian of Bulgaria will also intervene at the symposium.
