News from Around the World

It is my own Orthodox brethren who appear to be the cranky partners. Catholics have been making friendly overtures for more than a decade now. Pope John Paul II even said that the extent of papal power – over which the two churches split in the 11th century – could be “open to a new situation.” Both churches hold as ideal a united body with Rome as “first among equals.” Yet the Orthodox drag their feet, sometimes seeming downright rude. A Catholic friend tells me that the attitude seems to be: “Take this olive branch and shove it.”