Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Vatican City, Oct 16, 2024 / 09:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis expressed hope for “reconciled differences” between Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians during his Wednesday general audience, reflecting on the centuries-old “Filioque” dispute that has divided Western and Eastern Christians.
In his catechesis on the Holy Spirit on Oct. 16, Pope Francis reflected on the words of the Nicene Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” Adopted in its earliest form at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the Nicene Creed is recited by Catholics during Sunday Mass.
Pope Francis noted that the later addition of the “Filioque,” Latin for “and from the Son” in the creed, sparked a dispute that “has been the reason, or pretext, for so many arguments and divisions between the Church of the East and the Church of the West.”
The pope addresses the crowd at the general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
The pope added, however, that “the climate of dialogue between the two Churches has lost the acrimony of the past and today allows us to hope for full mutual acceptance, as one of the main ‘reconciled differences.’”
Francis underscored the importance of moving beyond past disputes, calling for unity and reconciliation among Christians despite their differences. “I like to say this: ‘Reconciled differences,’” the pope said.
“Among Christians, there are many differences: He follows this school, that one another; this person is a Protestant, that person … The important thing is that these differences are reconciled in the love of walking together,” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square.
Pilgrims assemble at the Vatican during the pope’s general audience on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis’ comments come as his designated peace envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi wraps up a trip to Moscow where he met Tuesday with a top-ranking member of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.
More than a dozen Orthodox and Protestant leaders are also in Rome this month as “fraternal delegates” in the ongoing Synod on Synodality assembly, including representatives of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all of Africa, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, the Lutheran World Federation, and the World Mennonite Conference.
Pope Francis emphasized that the Holy Spirit is “life-giving” and said that this truth can unite Christians today. “Having overcome this obstacle, today we can value the most important prerogative for us that is proclaimed in the article of the Creed, namely that the Holy Spirit is ‘life-giving,’ the ‘giver of life,’” he said.
In his reflection, the pope described how in the Genesis creation account, God’s breath gave life to Adam, turning a clay figure into a “living being.”
“Now, in the new creation, the Holy Spirit is the one who gives believers new life, the life of Christ, a supernatural life, as children of God,” Francis explained. He quoted the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans 8:2: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.”
Pope Francis emphasized that the Holy Spirit grants eternal life, which is a source of great hope.
“Where is the great and consoling news for us in all this? It is that the life given to us by the Holy Spirit is eternal life,” the pope said.
“Faith frees us from the horror of having to admit that everything ends here, that there is no redemption for the suffering and injustice that reign sovereign on earth.” Citing Romans 8:11, he added: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
“Let us cultivate this faith also for those who, often through no fault of their own, lack it and struggle to find meaning in life. And let us not forget to thank him who, through his death, has obtained this priceless gift for us,” the pope added.
Pope Francis offered greetings to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square from England, France, Brazil, Poland, Denmark, Norway, South Africa, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Canada, and the United States.
At the end of the general audience, Pope Francis appealed once again for peace in the world, urging people not to forget to pray for countries at war.
“Let us not forget war-torn Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, let us remember that war is always, always, a defeat. Let us not forget this, and let us pray for peace and work for peace.”
The pope also offered advice to a group of young people in the crowd who recently received the sacrament of confirmation.
“Dear young people, open your hearts to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit to be courageous witnesses of the Gospel,” he said.
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People pray at the statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is hospitalized with pneumonia, in Rome on Feb. 26, 2025. / Credit: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images
Vatican City, Feb 26, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).
… […]
Vatican City, Jan 2, 2019 / 03:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When praying, remember the words of Jesus when he taught the ‘Our Father,’ Pope Francis said Wednesday, meeting God as his beloved child and speaking from the heart.
Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Wednesday, June 25, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Aug 16, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Saturday, Aug. 16, marks Pope Leo XIV’s 100th day as pope. Since his May 8 election as the first pope born and raised in the United States, the 69-year-old Chicago native has already left his mark on a jubilee year filled with papal liturgies and a surge in pilgrim enthusiasm.
Here are some of the highlights of the first 100 days of the new Holy Father:
Papal jubilee: Pope Leo offers 16 public Masses in 14 weeks
Pope Leo XIV began his papacy in the heart of the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, and he made the most of this opportunity to interact with Catholic pilgrims from across the globe by offering many Masses with the public.
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Jubilee of Sport on June 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Leo XIV offered 16 large public Masses in just 14 weeks — an average of more than one per week — including seven Masses in June alone. The pace marks a significant shift from the final years of Pope Francis’ pontificate when the aging pope was unable to offer Mass himself at the altar. Francis was present at only four Masses with the public in the same time period last year.
The papal Masses have drawn large crowds and significant attention, beginning with his first inaugural Mass, which brought 200 foreign delegations — including heads of state and royalty — to the Vatican. Since then, Leo has celebrated liturgies for the jubilees of Families, Priests, and Youth as well as on major solemnities and feasts including Pentecost, Corpus Christi, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Trinity, Sts. Peter and Paul, and Mary, Mother of the Church.
Leo XIV is the first pope elected during a jubilee year since 1700.
Pope Leo XIV on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome, June 29, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
A singing pope
One of Pope Leo’s most unexpected moments came during his first Regina Caeli address, when he stunned a crowd of 200,000 in St. Peter’s Square by singing the Marian hymn rather than reciting it in Latin like his recent predecessors. Since then, he has continued chanting during liturgies and leading crowds in sung versions of the Our Father in Latin.
The move inspired the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music to launch “Let’s Sing with the Pope,” an online series aimed at making Gregorian chant more accessible.
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First American pope on White Sox stadium jumbotron
In June, the first pope born and raised in the United States appeared on the jumbotron at a gathering of American Catholics at Chicago’s Rate Field — home of his beloved White Sox. In a video message delivered entirely in English, Pope Leo urged young people to be “beacons of hope” and invited all to see that “God is reaching out to you, calling you, inviting you to know his son, Jesus Christ.”
It was the pope’s first direct address to his hometown since his election and one of the earliest papal speeches given entirely in English.
Pope Leo XIV addresses Catholic faithful on the scoreboard at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, during a celebration and Mass to honor his election as pope on June 14, 2025, in Chicago. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
The new pope’s love of sports has led to some memorable moments. He blessed 159 cyclists as they passed through Vatican City in the final leg of the Giro d’Italia.
A self-described “amateur tennis player,” Pope Leo XIV joked with tennis star Jannik Sinner, ranked the world’s No. 1, whether his white cassock would meet Wimbledon’s requirement for all white attire.
Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner on May 14, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
The pope has also been gifted White Sox and Bears jerseys and has signed baseballs for enthusiastic pilgrims.
A voice for peace in Gaza and Ukraine
Pope Leo XIV’s first words were “Peace be with you all,” recalling the first greeting of the risen Christ recorded in Scripture. As wars continued and at times intensified during Pope Leo’s first months, the pope has continued to be a voice for peace.
In June, after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Pope Leo urged world leaders “to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.” Following an Israeli strike that killed three people at Gaza’s only Catholic church in July, he appealed for “a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and full respect for humanitarian law.”
“Today more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace,” the pope said during an Angelus from the window of the Apostolic Palace.
Leo also met with bishops and pilgrims from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Castel Gandolfo in July, where the two discussed the urgency of “just and lasting paths of peace,” according to the Vatican.
Pope Leo XIV greets Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Castel Gandolfo on July 9, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
Leo carries the Eucharist through the streets of Rome
Pope Leo personally carried the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Rome during a Corpus Christi procession from the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
“Together, as shepherds and flock, we will feed on the Blessed Sacrament, adore him, and carry him through the streets,” he said. “In doing so, we will present him before the eyes, the consciences, and the hearts of the people.”
More than 20,000 people turned out for Leo XIV’s first Eucharistic procession as pope.
Pope Leo XIV leads a Eucharistic procession in Rome on June 22, 2025, for the feast of Corpus Christi. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN
Return to Castel Gandolfo
Pope Leo revived the papal tradition of spending summer days at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. During his two-week stay in July, he led public Masses in local parishes, greeted pilgrims as he led the Angelus prayer in Liberty Square, and received visiting dignitaries. His stay marks the first papal summer retreat in the lakeside town since the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.
The sun burst through raindrops right as Pope Leo XIV appeared in front of the apostolic palace of Castel Gandolfo to give the Angelus address on July 13, 2025. Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Pope Leo introduces the world to great quotes by St. Augustine
A member of the Augustinian order, Pope Leo has quoted St. Augustine in nearly every one of his homilies as pope. In his first public words on May 8, he said: “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’”
Addressing 1 million young people at the Jubilee of Youth in August, he quoted Augustine’s “Confessions”: “You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness… I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.”
Pope Leo XIV greets crowds at the Jubilee of Youth on Aug. 3, 2025, at Tor Vergata in Rome. Credit: Vatican Media
A focus on artificial intelligence
Pope Leo has frequently spoken about artificial intelligence (AI), which is already shaping up to be a topic of interest in his pontificate with many hoping that he will address it in an encyclical.
Early on in his pontificate, Leo drew parallels between his namesake Pope Leo XIII, who responded to the industrial revolution with Rerum Novarum, and today’s digital revolution, explaining that the rise of AI poses “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”
“Humanity is at a crossroads, facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by artificial intelligence,” he warned in a message to the Geneva-based AI for Good Summit. “The impact of this revolution is far-reaching, transforming areas such as education, work, art, health care, governance, the military, and communication.”
Pope Leo XIV smiles during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 13, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
The Vatican website received a revamp shortly after Leo’s election, and insiders noted Leo’s relatively tech-savvy background, including a personal Twitter account prior to his papacy.
The pope also expressed concern in a speech to another AI conference about the negative effects that AI can have on the “intellectual and neurological development” of rising generations and the “loss of the sense of the human” that societies are experiencing.
Leo declares a new doctor of the Church
In one of his most significant theological gestures, Pope Leo named St. John Henry Newman, a 19th-century English convert from Anglicanism, a doctor of the Church — a rare title given to just 37 other saints. The title is granted in recognition of an already canonized saint’s significant contribution to advancing the Church’s knowledge of doctrine, theology, or spirituality.
Pope Leo XIV greets hundreds of thousands of youth and pilgrims ahead of a vigil at Tor Vergata, Rome, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. Credit: Mateusz Opila
Leo also approved the upcoming canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in September as the first saints of his pontificate. He greenlit seven additional causes for canonization, including that of Blessed Bartolo Longo, a former satanist turned founder of the Marian shrine in Pompeii.
Carrying the cross before a million young people at the Jubilee of Youth
Pope Leo addressed the largest crowd of his papacy to date at the Jubilee of Youth, where an estimated 1 million young adults camped out in fields in Tor Vergata, southeast of Rome.
He surprised them by walking through the crowd to the stage, personally carrying the jubilee cross. During the evening vigil, he answered youth questions in English, Italian, and Spanish, offering reflections on loneliness, discernment, and friendship with Christ.
Pope Leo XIV leads young people from around the world in a procession, carrying the Jubilee Year Cross during the Jubilee of Youth this evening in Tor Vergata, on the outskirts of Rome. pic.twitter.com/XPjOnQg9p9
After Eucharistic adoration, chants of “Papa Leone!” echoed long into the night. Leo stayed past 10 p.m. — well beyond the scheduled end.
Earlier in the week, he made a surprise appearance at the opening Mass, joyfully proclaiming in English: “Jesus tells us: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world!” and the crowd erupted in cheers.
I would believe the Synod are addressing the major dogmatic and political differences. I’m no expert and I have to leave church policy to the learned. However, I feel the most important is that Lutherans have only two sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist. I see major differences that will be hard to change our “separated brethren”, many of which have been addressed before. Like the unmarried celibacy of clerics. Women pastors.
Martin Luther added penance. That leaves four. Pastors at mainline Protestant churches are much more likely to identify as liberal. Catholics lean toward Republican ideology, mainly on the abortion issue. Protestants have traditionally rejected the pope’s authority, the seat of St. Peter, Jesus’ rock.
We must pray that the Synod fathers will succeed in this effort. That massive unity of the children of God will change the world for the better.
Most Lutherans and protestants in general only retain two Sacraments that the Catholic Church would recognize as valid in some cases: Baptism and Marriage. Lutheran eucharist isn’t valid because they don’t maintain apostolic succession from the Twelve, therefore the mystery of transubstantiation doesn’t exist in their faith. The Orthodox Sacraments are valid because they retained Apostolic succession from the Twelve, but they aren’t licit because they reject the authority of the Pope as the universal leader of the worldwide Church, both East and West. Hopefully they’ll reunite because they were one Church 1000 years ago. As for the other Christian denominations, like the Lutherans, episcopalians, other protestant groups and the methodists (who recently caved to the neoliberalism agenda to allow transgender/lgtbtq people to enter their clergy orders), they were doomed from the beginning since those particular faiths were founded off the teachings and ideas of men and not the Christ.
Catholic and Orthodox were One until the 1054 divorce.
The original founders of the protestant faiths of today such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism destroyed the unity by rejecting the Pope, and by trying to play God.
The Filioque was added in the West as a bulwark against resurgent Arianism. Are we to interpret a signal, here, that Arianism is now passe in both the West and the East, such that next year in 2025, the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea (deepened later at Constantinople), the Filioque can be dropped in the West—but only voluntarily, of course, in some polyhedral diocese and perhaps not in others?
And, are we to understand that the differences between Churches of the East and West on the one hand, are cut from the same cloth as differences with the Protestant ecclesial communities (lacking the apostolic succession)?
Walking with Pope Francis, how now to pick up where St. John Paul II left off, in his General Audience of November 7, 1990 in his Instruction on the “Filioque Debate, which concluded with this: “After the Council of Florence the West continued to profess that the Holy Spirit ‘proceeds from the Father and the Son,” while the East continued to hold to the original formula of the Council of Constantinople. But since the time of the Second Vatican Council a fruitful ecumenical dialogue has been developing. It seems to have led to the conclusion that the formula ‘Filioque’ does not constitute an essential obstacle to the dialogue itself and to its development, which all hope and pray for to the Holy Spirit.”
The most recent problem is that Cardinal Fernandez has possibly squandered the needed legitimacy for productive dialogue with the East (Fiducia Supplicans), and with believing Protestants as well by hanging his red hat a bit too much (some say) on the time-piece U.N. Declaration of Human Rights (Dignitas Infinita).
What, exactly, is the supposedly smooth fit between the historical “time is greater than space” and the historic Incarnation of the Triune One?
It seems that the issue of the Filioque (and the Son) isn’t today’s main divider of the Catholic/Orthodox split. It’s the authority of the Pope as the leader of the worldwide Church, Eastern and Western alike, purgatory, and the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.
Fiducia may not have helped matters, but the document did not greenlight gay “marriage”. It only gave priests permission to bless the two individuals. I’ve mentioned before that Eastern Catholics, like the Orthodox, have a different interpretation of the meaning of “blessing”. Many people think of blessing as: ie, a priest making the sign of the cross over you, or for example “May God’s great blessings come upon you”. Both mean just that.
Blessing also means to give permission for something, and the Church can’t give permission for gay “marriage”. The UGCC Patriarch Shevchuk said that the Fiducia document doesn’t apply to the Eastern Catholic Churches because of their different interpretation of blessing.
I think it was Coptic Orthodox Church that suspended ecumenical relations with Rome over Fiducia. They’ve been separated from the Catholic Church since 451, over matters completely unrelated to this Vatican document.
The Filioque also affirms there is only One Son Of God, One Word Of Perfect Love Incarnate, One Lamb Of God Who Can Taketh Away The Sins Of The World, Our Only Savior, Jesus The
Christ and thus The Blessed Trinity Is a Trinity Of Persons, Father, Son, And Holy Ghost, Who Proceeds From The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Love Between The Father And The Son.
The original text of the Nicean/Constantinopolitan Creed in 325 stated the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. As Beaulieu mentioned above, the Filioque was added to combat the Arian heresy, which at the time was denounced by Christians in both the East and West, and ultimately, Arius’s credibility was rightfully shattered. Christ also says that “The Father and I are One”. I usually point that out when talking about the Filioque. Unlike in the Roman Church,
many Eastern Catholic Churches recite the Creed without the Filioque, yet are in full union with Rome.
No matter how you look at it, we’ll never fully understand the mystical nature of the Trinity, One in Essence, and Undivided.
That’s where we should leave it.
I would believe the Synod are addressing the major dogmatic and political differences. I’m no expert and I have to leave church policy to the learned. However, I feel the most important is that Lutherans have only two sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist. I see major differences that will be hard to change our “separated brethren”, many of which have been addressed before. Like the unmarried celibacy of clerics. Women pastors.
Martin Luther added penance. That leaves four. Pastors at mainline Protestant churches are much more likely to identify as liberal. Catholics lean toward Republican ideology, mainly on the abortion issue. Protestants have traditionally rejected the pope’s authority, the seat of St. Peter, Jesus’ rock.
We must pray that the Synod fathers will succeed in this effort. That massive unity of the children of God will change the world for the better.
To Morgan:
Most Lutherans and protestants in general only retain two Sacraments that the Catholic Church would recognize as valid in some cases: Baptism and Marriage. Lutheran eucharist isn’t valid because they don’t maintain apostolic succession from the Twelve, therefore the mystery of transubstantiation doesn’t exist in their faith. The Orthodox Sacraments are valid because they retained Apostolic succession from the Twelve, but they aren’t licit because they reject the authority of the Pope as the universal leader of the worldwide Church, both East and West. Hopefully they’ll reunite because they were one Church 1000 years ago. As for the other Christian denominations, like the Lutherans, episcopalians, other protestant groups and the methodists (who recently caved to the neoliberalism agenda to allow transgender/lgtbtq people to enter their clergy orders), they were doomed from the beginning since those particular faiths were founded off the teachings and ideas of men and not the Christ.
Catholic and Orthodox were One until the 1054 divorce.
The original founders of the protestant faiths of today such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism destroyed the unity by rejecting the Pope, and by trying to play God.
The Filioque was added in the West as a bulwark against resurgent Arianism. Are we to interpret a signal, here, that Arianism is now passe in both the West and the East, such that next year in 2025, the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea (deepened later at Constantinople), the Filioque can be dropped in the West—but only voluntarily, of course, in some polyhedral diocese and perhaps not in others?
And, are we to understand that the differences between Churches of the East and West on the one hand, are cut from the same cloth as differences with the Protestant ecclesial communities (lacking the apostolic succession)?
Walking with Pope Francis, how now to pick up where St. John Paul II left off, in his General Audience of November 7, 1990 in his Instruction on the “Filioque Debate, which concluded with this: “After the Council of Florence the West continued to profess that the Holy Spirit ‘proceeds from the Father and the Son,” while the East continued to hold to the original formula of the Council of Constantinople. But since the time of the Second Vatican Council a fruitful ecumenical dialogue has been developing. It seems to have led to the conclusion that the formula ‘Filioque’ does not constitute an essential obstacle to the dialogue itself and to its development, which all hope and pray for to the Holy Spirit.”
The most recent problem is that Cardinal Fernandez has possibly squandered the needed legitimacy for productive dialogue with the East (Fiducia Supplicans), and with believing Protestants as well by hanging his red hat a bit too much (some say) on the time-piece U.N. Declaration of Human Rights (Dignitas Infinita).
What, exactly, is the supposedly smooth fit between the historical “time is greater than space” and the historic Incarnation of the Triune One?
It seems that the issue of the Filioque (and the Son) isn’t today’s main divider of the Catholic/Orthodox split. It’s the authority of the Pope as the leader of the worldwide Church, Eastern and Western alike, purgatory, and the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.
Fiducia may not have helped matters, but the document did not greenlight gay “marriage”. It only gave priests permission to bless the two individuals. I’ve mentioned before that Eastern Catholics, like the Orthodox, have a different interpretation of the meaning of “blessing”. Many people think of blessing as: ie, a priest making the sign of the cross over you, or for example “May God’s great blessings come upon you”. Both mean just that.
Blessing also means to give permission for something, and the Church can’t give permission for gay “marriage”. The UGCC Patriarch Shevchuk said that the Fiducia document doesn’t apply to the Eastern Catholic Churches because of their different interpretation of blessing.
I think it was Coptic Orthodox Church that suspended ecumenical relations with Rome over Fiducia. They’ve been separated from the Catholic Church since 451, over matters completely unrelated to this Vatican document.
The Filioque also affirms there is only One Son Of God, One Word Of Perfect Love Incarnate, One Lamb Of God Who Can Taketh Away The Sins Of The World, Our Only Savior, Jesus The
Christ and thus The Blessed Trinity Is a Trinity Of Persons, Father, Son, And Holy Ghost, Who Proceeds From The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Love Between The Father And The Son.
The original text of the Nicean/Constantinopolitan Creed in 325 stated the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. As Beaulieu mentioned above, the Filioque was added to combat the Arian heresy, which at the time was denounced by Christians in both the East and West, and ultimately, Arius’s credibility was rightfully shattered. Christ also says that “The Father and I are One”. I usually point that out when talking about the Filioque. Unlike in the Roman Church,
many Eastern Catholic Churches recite the Creed without the Filioque, yet are in full union with Rome.
No matter how you look at it, we’ll never fully understand the mystical nature of the Trinity, One in Essence, and Undivided.
That’s where we should leave it.