ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES-ROMAN CATHOLIC DIALOGUE

ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES-ROMAN CATHOLIC DIALOGUE. As well as with the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox churches have been in official dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church (qq.v.), in particular at meetings held in 1971, 1975, 1976 (in Vienna), and 1978 (in Cairo). These have culminated in official meetings between the Coptic Pope of Alexandria (q.v.) and Pope Paul VI (1973), the Ethiopian Patriarch and Pope Joh n Paul II (1982), the latter and the Jacobite (q.v.) Patriarch (1980), Joh n Paul II and the Armenian Patriarch of Cilicia (1983), and Joh n Paul II and the Catholicos of the Indian Church (1983). The statements issued all declare an agreement on the christological differences of the past, but-as with the Eastern Orthodox-other particular ecclesiological questions pose grave difficulties, especially the role of the papacy (q.v.).