The Coptic Orthodox Church halts its theological dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church because of Vatican’s publication of “Fiducia supplicans”

The Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria has made the momentous decision to suspend its two-decades-long doctrinal dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church after the Vatican recently approved blessings for same-sex couples, something Coptic officials have called a “heresy”.

The Holy Synod of the ancient, Egypt-based Church announced on March 7 that it had decided “to suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, re-evaluate the results that the dialogue has achieved since its beginning twenty years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed.” The catalyst for the decision, however, was the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s publication last December of Fiducia supplicans, the document on blessings for couples “in irregular situations” — including those of the same sex.
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Pope Francis in a message to Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I has called for a continuous analyzing of the historical and theological reasons for the ongoing divisions between the two Churches “in a spirit that is neither polemical nor apologetic but marked instead by authentic dialogue and mutual openness”.
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Pope Francis has drawn a parallel between Russia’s war on Ukraine and the “Holodomor” – the man-made famine that Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin orchestrated in the early 1930s and which led to the death of five million Ukrainians.

The pope made the comparison – the first time he’s ever done so publicly – during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square. He even went so far as to agree that the Holodomor, which means “to kill by starvation”, truly was a “genocide”.
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Patriarchs and heads of Churches in Jerusalem have expressed their gratitude to Jordan’s King Abdullah II for telling the UN General Assembly about Christians in Jerusalem and his promise to help preserve the city’s Christian identity.

The Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant leaders in a statement said they “express our utmost gratitude and appreciation” to the king “for his true and honest description of the Christian reality” in the Holy Land, especially in Jerusalem and said they applauded him for his “public commitment to protect our communities’ historical and legal status quo, thus preserving our safety and future”.
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Pope Francis has told young economists, entrepreneurs and university researchers that the world’s development model must be seriously questioned and reformed without delay.

The pope made his appeal this past Saturday in Assisi before a thousand young adults from around the world who were gathered in Assisi for a three-day meeting titled “The Economy of Francesco”, which explored ways to create sustainable and ecologically viable development.
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Dani Dayan, head of the Holocaust center in Jerusalem, describes Pope Francis as a friend and an ally in the mission to defeat antisemitism. Pope Francis met with the chairman of the Yad Vashem (World Holocaust Remembrance Center) and the two discussed ways to prevent antisemitism and increase cooperation on Holocaust education. Dani Dayan, the head of the center in Jerusalem, described Pope Francis as a friend and an ally in the mission to defeat antisemitism. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, is universally recognized as the ultimate source for Holocaust education, documentation and research.

The meeting that took place on June 9 was also attended by Rafi Schutz, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See. Pope Francis and Dayan both share Buenos Aires as their birthplace and were able to converse in their native Spanish. The discussion focused on ongoing collaborative efforts by Yad Vashem and the Catholic Church on “Holocaust remembrance, education and documentation, and to discuss efforts to fight antisemitism and racism worldwide,” Yad Vashem said in a statement.
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