This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience His Holiness Mar Awa III, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, together with members of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

The following is the address delivered by the Pope to those present at the audience:

Address of the Holy Father:

Your Holiness,

Dear friends in Christ,

"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph 1:2). With these words of Saint Paul, I welcome Your Holiness as a beloved brother in Christ, and once again express gratitude for your presence at the inauguration of my pontificate. I also warmly extend my greetings to the members of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

These combined visits of the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, together with the members of the Commission, constitute a beautiful custom established in recent years. They bear witness to the fact that fraternal encounter and theological dialogue are mutually constitutive elements on the path toward unity. The "dialogue of truth" is one expression of the love that already unites our Churches, while the "dialogue of charity" must also be understood theologically.

Your last visit, in 2024, marked the thirtieth anniversary of the official dialogue between our Churches. The progress made over these years is significant, having faithfully followed the mandate and methodology established by our predecessors. As affirmed in the 1994 Joint Declaration of His Holiness John Paul II and His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, "to be full and entire, communion presupposes unanimity concerning the content of the faith, the sacraments, and the constitution of the Church."

This triptych provided the framework for the successive phases of our theological dialogue. After reaching agreement on Christological faith and thus resolving a 1,500-year-old controversy, our dialogue advanced with the mutual recognition of sacraments, enabling a certain communicatio in sacris between our Churches. I wish to express my deep gratitude to each of you, the theologians of the Joint Commission, for your invaluable contributions and shared efforts, without which these doctrinal and pastoral agreements would not have been possible.

Regarding the constitution of the Church -- the current focus of the dialogue -- the principal challenge lies in jointly developing a model of full communion, inspired by the first millennium, while thoughtfully responding to the challenges of our time. As my predecessors have repeatedly emphasized, such a model should not involve absorption or domination; rather, it should promote the exchange of gifts between our Churches, received from the Holy Spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ (cf. Eph 4:12). I look forward to the fruits of your ongoing theological dialogue on this matter, conducted "together, of course," as Saint Pope John Paul II so earnestly desired in his Encyclical Ut Unum Sint (no. 95).

On this journey towards full communion, synodality presents itself as a promising path forward. During Your Holiness' visit in 2022, Pope Francis coined the expression later included in the Final Document of the recent Synod on Synodality of the Catholic Church, I quote: "The journey of synodality undertaken by the Catholic Church is and must be ecumenical, just as the ecumenical journey is synodal" (For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission, 23). In the spirit of that Synod, I sincerely hope that the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea will lead us to "put into practice forms of synodality among Christians of all traditions" and inspire us with new "ecumenical synodal practices" (ibid., 138-139).

May we continue this pilgrimage strengthened by the prayers of all the saints of our Churches, especially Saint Isaac of Nineveh, whose name was added to the Roman Martyrology last year Through their intercession, may Christians in the Middle East always bear faithful witness to the risen Christ, and may our dialogue hasten the blessed day when we will celebrate together at the same altar, sharing in the same Body and Blood of our Saviour, "so that the world may believe" (Jn 17:21).

United in prayer with Our Saviour, I now invite all of you to join me in praying together the Lord's Prayer. Our Father...