![Pope with Oriental Orthodox bishops Jan 28 2011.jpg](http://communio.stblogs.org/assets_c/2011/01/Pope with Oriental Orthodox bishops Jan 28 2011-thumb-300x199-8472.jpg)
Eastern Church: January 2011 Archives
![Pope with Oriental Orthodox bishops Jan 28 2011.jpg](http://communio.stblogs.org/assets_c/2011/01/Pope with Oriental Orthodox bishops Jan 28 2011-thumb-300x199-8472.jpg)
In the middle of the annual exercise of prayer and study for Christian Unity, the Vatican's daily news paper, L'Osservatore Romano, interviewed Bishop Brian Farrell, LC, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The interviewer asked Bishop Farrell about problems in the ecumenical quest with the Orthodox Church, and his answer is below.
We are examining the crucial point of our differences on the Church's structure and way of being and operating: the question of the role of the Bishop of Rome in the Church communion of the first millennium, when the Church in the West and East was still united. After profound studies and discussions, the members of the Theological Commission have come to realize the enormous difference between the lived, assimilated, and narrated historical experience in Western culture and the historical experience perceived in the Eastern vision of things. Every historical event is open to different interpretations. The discussion has not led to a real convergence.
![Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Sfeir.jpg](http://communio.stblogs.org/assets_c/2011/01/Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Sfeir-thumb-200x157-8353.jpg)
![Fouad Twal.jpg](http://communio.stblogs.org/assets_c/2011/01/Fouad Twal-thumb-250x182-8273.jpg)
![Copts in Rome Jan 9 2011.jpg](http://communio.stblogs.org/assets_c/2011/01/Copts in Rome Jan 9 2011-thumb-350x232-8247.jpg)
![Pope Shenouda III, Coptic Cathedral in Cairo Jan. 7, 2010.jpg](http://communio.stblogs.org/assets_c/2011/01/Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church, leads prayers at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010-thumb-300x204-8217.jpg)