Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill

The Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, also known as the Havana Declaration, was issued following the first meeting in February 2016 between Pope Francis, who, as the Bishop of Rome, is the pontiff of the Catholic Church, and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches. This was the first time leaders of the Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate had met. While the meeting was also seen as a symbolic moment in the history of relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches as a community, which had split in the Great Schism of 1054, centuries before the Moscow Patriarchate was constituted, it was not expected to lead to any immediate rapprochement between them.

Patriarch Kirill (left) in 2009 and Pope Francis (right) in 2015

The 30-point declaration contains a joint call by the two church primates to end the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and wars in the region, expressing their hope that the meeting might contribute to the re-establishment of Christian unity between the two churches. A range of other issues are mentioned in the declaration, including atheism, secularism, capitalism, consumerism, economic and social inequality, migrants and refugees, the importance of heterosexual marriage and the family, and concerns relating to abortion and euthanasia.

According to the ROC leadership's public statements made before and after the Havana meeting, while the document stresses that both churches share the tradition of the first millennium of Christianity, the discussion during the meeting did not attempt to mend any of the persisting doctrinal and ecclesiastical differences between the two churches. The Declaration however includes statements about Eastern Catholic Churches in line with the Balamand declaration as well as the conflict in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church expressed disappointment, and Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate criticised the latter.

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