(January 27, 2010) The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is lamenting
that a document on papal primacy that is currently being studied by the Catholic-Orthodox
mixed commission has been leaked. The dicastery issued a brief statement clarifying
that the text, which appeared Monday on the Italian blog Chiesa, "is a draft text
consisting of a list of themes to be studied and examined in greater depth, and has
been only minimally discussed by the said commission." The document in question was
presented for study at the most recent meeting of the International Mixed Commission
for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which
took place last October in Paphos, Cyprus. During the meeting, the communique reported,
"it was specifically established that the text would not be published until it had
been fully and completely examined by the commission." "As yet there is no agreed
document and, hence, the text published has no authority or official status," the
note adds. The document discusses the role of the Bishop of Rome during the first
millennium of Christianity, and the theological and historical factors that surround
the question of the primacy of the Successor of Peter.