"Kirche und Kirchengemeinschaft [Church and Ecclesial Communion]"

The dialogue document "Kirche und Kirchengemeinschaft [Church and Ecclesial Communion]", consisting of two reports  (IRAD I - 2009 [DE] and IRAD II - 2016 [DE] | IRAD I - 2009 [EN] - IRAD II - 2016 [EN]), is now available on the website of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU). 

The International Roman Catholic - Old Catholic Dialogue Commission, which was mandated by the International Bishops' Conference of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (now DPCU), has as its particular goal a deepened "communio ecclesiology".

In relation to the position of the primacy in the Church and the last two Marian dogmas (1854 Immaculate Conception,1950 Assumption), differentiating ways of understanding have become possible.

On the question of the ordination of women to the priestly ministry, it is stated that "the familiar positions and correlated praxis of the two churches were presented without any new approaches to overcoming the disagreement resulting" (IRAD II - 2016). Likewise, the intrinsic bond between eucharistic and ecclesial communion requires further theological clarification.

IRAD II - 2016 concludes with the outlook: "What is required now is of course both an active reception of the achievements and also the unabated will to work on that which both still and anew lies ahead."

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith adopted both of Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller's theological commentaries (to IRAD I - 2009 [DE] | to IRAD II - 2016 [DE]) on the subject and gave its approval for publication.