"Therefore, the Bishop of Rome is the protos amongst the patriarchs". However reads the document , Catholics and Orthodox "do not agree on the interpretation of the historical evidence of that time, in terms of the prerogatives of the Bishop of Rome as the protos". Orthodox and Catholics recall, in the document, that in the first few centuries the bishop of Rome never convened or presided the ecumenical councils, although "he was closely involved in the decision-making processes". Therefore "primacy and conciliarism are mutually interdependent". This means that the primacy of several levels of the life of the Church, the local, regional and universal, must always be regarded from the perspective of conciliarism, and likewise conciliarism must always be regarded from the perspective of primacy. Stating this in principle, the practical issues remain open. This is explained by the members of the Joint Commission in the "conclusions": "The problem of the role of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of all churches must be studied more deeply", especially for its "specific function as the ‘bishop of the first See’ in an ecclesiology of koinonia". "These are crucial questions for our dialogue and for our hopes of reinstating full communion between us".
