Vatican's "Eastern Policy" strategy in the context of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue: Rome-Constantinople, Rome-Moscow

Abstract

The article surveys the modern direction of the Vatican Eastern policy initiated by Pope John Paul II. It provides the transition from the traditional Catholic ecclesial and soteriological exclusivism to the ecumenical concept of the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. It is described the role of the Joint International Commission on the Theological Dialogue of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in this dialogue. The vector directions of the «Eastern policy of Vatican» are elaborated: Rome-Constantinople, Rome-Moscow, where the Eastern Catholic Churches, especially the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, acquired the negative meaning of the concept of «uniatism». This happened contrary to the «Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches» adopted by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the «Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches» (adopted in Vatican on October 18, 1990), which granted to these churches a significant canonical status «Ecclesia sui juris» – «Church of its own right». Despite these negative factors, inter-confessional relations in Ukraine are analyzed on the basis of tolerance, pluralism and religious and cultural identity of denominations and religious organizations.