But disagreement on what that means, from the Vatican-Orthodox commission as reported in the International Herald Tribune:
The theological commission said it agreed in Ravenna that Rome occupied the “first place” in canonical order of the ancient seats of bishops — including Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.
The commission said it agreed “that the bishop of Rome was therefore the ‘protos’ (first in ancient Greek) among the patriarchs.”
“They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as ‘protos,’” the commission’s document said.
“While the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West, there are differences of understanding with regard to the manner in which it is to be exercised, and also with regard to its scriptural and theological foundations,” the document continued.
It said the role of the bishop of Rome — the pope — in communion with other churches must be studied in greater depth.
