Ecumenical dialogue is not producing results, Kyrillos, a Coptic Orthodox bishop from Los Angeles and co-chair of an international theological dialogue between Catholic and schismatic Oriental Orthodox groups, told Aleteia.org (18 April).
On 23 December, Bishop Kyrillos asked the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity to clarify Francis' homosexual propaganda piece 'Fiducia Supplicans' to the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
In January 2024, the Vatican celebrated the 20th anniversary of the "dialogue" with the Oriental Orthodox, but three months later, on 7 March, the Synod of Bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that it was suspending it.
Kyrillos defended this decision on two grounds: "Fiducia Supplicans", and the fact that the meetings produced few results and avoid difficult issues.
Ecumenical meetings are stuck at a preliminary stage and never get to the point of resolving differences, he said: "We just identify them and write them down, and then we move on".
As examples of differences, Kyrillos mentions the doctrine of purgatory, the question of the salvation of unbelievers, the sacraments and the priesthood, the Immaculate Conception, and the Council of Chalcedon (451), which defined that Christ has a divine and a human nature, a doctrine that was not accepted by Kyrillos' group.
Kyrillos missed an important point: "ecumenical dialogue" is not about the doctrine of the Faith, which is completely irrelevant to the Vatican, but about feeling good.
Picture: Kyrillos Abdelsayed © wikipedia CC BY-SA, #newsUjuteepkkx