LAUDATIO DI SUA EMINENZA IL CARDINALE KURT KOCH
IN OCCASIONE DEL CONFERIMENTO DI UN DOTTORATO h.c. IN TEOLOGIA DA PARTE DELL'ANGELICUM
Angelicum, Venerdì, 23 ottobre 2026
Your All-Holiness,
Your Eminences and Excellencies,
Rector Magnificus,
Honourable Ambassadors,
Dear Professors and Students,
When an honorary doctorate is awarded, it is not always clear who is being honoured more: the recipient or the one conferring the doctorate. Today, Your All-Holiness, it is very clear that it is us, above all, whom you are honouring by your presence here, accompanied by such a distinguished delegation. It is a particular honour for me to deliver this laudatio for the doctorate in theology that will be conferred upon you in a few moments at this Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas.
The Angelicum, whose origins date back to the Middle Ages, has educated generations of students in theology, philosophy, canon law and the social sciences, including numerous blessed and saints, bishops and church leaders, the most famous of whom are Saint John Paul II and the current Bishop of Rome, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. A distinctive feature of this university is its longstanding role in the field of ecumenical formation and research, in the tradition of the Dominican Order. The Angelicum can boast of pioneers of ecumenism, such as Johannes Willebrands, Yves Congar and Jean-Marie Tillard, who either studied or lived within its walls. Over forty years ago, an Ecumenical Section was established within its Faculty of Theology, later transformed into the Œcumenicum – the Institute for Ecumenical Studies – which I inaugurated in this very auditorium in 2019. Numerous Orthodox Christians have studied here, and many still do so today; several have also taught here, and some still do so nowadays.
Your Holiness, you have been awarded numerous doctorates. The first was in canon law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute during your studies in Rome, and now you are receiving one from a Dominican university. Being honoured by both the Jesuits and the Dominicans demonstrates the extent of your ecumenism! I should also mention the honorary doctorate in philosophy you received from the Pontifical University Antonianum of the Franciscans. Today, however, it is not in canon law or philosophy, but in theology that the Angelicum is granting Your Holiness a doctorate, in recognition of your outstanding contribution to ecumenical thought, especially in the field of relations between Catholics and Orthodox.
Under your patriarchal ministry, relations between the sister Churches of Rome and Constantinople have indeed flourished continuously. You have signed more joint declarations with Popes than any other Patriarch in history: in 1995, 2002, and 2004 with Pope John Paul II; in 2006 with Pope Benedict XVI; in 2014 and 2016 with Pope Francis; and most recently in 2025 with Pope Leo XIV. In 2008, you became the first Orthodox Patriarch to address a Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, when Pope Benedict XVI invited Your Holiness to speak at its Ordinary General Assembly on The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. You are also the first Orthodox Patriarch whose theological insights have been formally incorporated into a Papal magisterial document — specifically, Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical Laudato Si’. Last year, your attendance at Pope Francis’s funeral and at the inauguration of the new pontificate, as well as Pope Leo XIV’s first visit abroad being to the Ecumenical Throne, are also eloquent signs of these developing relations.
Yet these relations are not merely a matter of ecclesiastical courtesy. You have endowed them with a profound theological significance, an important contribution to which I would now like to pay tribute by highlighting in an ecumenical perspective three areas.
Firstly, I would like to emphasise the invaluable contribution Your Holiness has made to ecclesiological reflection on the synodality of the Church. You have tirelessly encouraged the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, particularly in 2005, following a period during which the dialogue had been suspended. With your constant support over the past twenty years, the Commission has published three foundational documents: in Ravenna in 2007, in Chieti in 2016, and most recently in Alexandria, in 2023. While the Commission initially focused on the question of primacy — the main stumbling block in relations between our Churches — it has since placed synodality at the centre of its reflections, emphasising that synodality and primacy are two “interdependent, complementary and inseparable” principles[1]. This approach owes much to your own teaching, Your Holiness. Throughout your patriarchal ministry, you have consistently emphasised both the conciliar nature of the Church and the necessity of primacy. This perspective is of great importance not only to the Orthodox Church, but also to us Catholics, who likewise believe that true synodality cannot exist without true primacy and that true primacy cannot exist without true synodality.
It is no coincidence that you consistently promoted the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. After several decades of preparation, the Council was finally convened at Pentecost in 2016, demonstrating the conciliar nature of the Orthodox Church. This year marks the tenth anniversary of this historic event, to which the Œcumenicum is dedicating a conference this afternoon, and about which you will speak to us shortly. During the opening session of the Council of Crete, which I had the honour of attending as an observer, you emphasised that synodality is an intrinsic dimension of the Church and indeed of the Christian faith itself. Citing the words of Saint John Chrysostom — “The term ‘church’ is defined as a system and synod”[2] — you stated that “the synodal institution […] is not merely a matter of canonical tradition, which we have received and preserve, but of fundamental theological and doctrinal truth, without which there is no salvation”. You added that “without synodality, the unity of the Church is severed, the sanctity of its members is reduced to mere individual morality and articulation about virtue, catholicity is sacrificed in favour of particular individual, collective, national and other secular interests or intentions, and the apostolic message falls prey to various heresies and ruses of human reason”[3].
Last year, by inviting the Holy Father, Leo XIV, together with the other Heads of the Churches, to Iznik to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the First Ecumenical Council, you reminded us once again of the conciliar nature of the Church, since it was in Nicaea that synodality was first introduced at a universal level. This provided an opportunity not only to commemorate this milestone event in Church history, but also to experience a sense of synodality among church leaders during the joint prayer service in Iznik and the ecumenical gathering in Istanbul.
Another remarkable aspect of your contribution to ecumenical theology is what is often referred to as eco-theology. Under your inspiration, Your Holiness, ecology has transcended the realms of politics and sciences to become a theological imperative. In his foreword to the book on the “Ecological Vision of the Green Patriarch Bartholomew”, Metropolitan John of Pergamon rightly emphasised that “the ecological crisis is deeply rooted in theology, and it is above all a spiritual problem”; and from this he drew the conclusion that “the protection of the natural environment is a fundamental religious obligation demanded from humankind by God himself.”[4]
You, All-Holiness, were the first religious leader to formally describe the destruction of nature as a sin against creation, the “divine icon”, and ultimately as a sin against God Himself. In keeping with the great patristic tradition, particularly the Eastern one, you have called upon human beings to abandon predatory consumerism and once again become “Priests of Creation”, receiving nature as a gift from God and offering it back to Him in a spirit of thanksgiving, from a Eucharistic and liturgical perspective. In the belief that the environmental crisis reflects, above all, a crisis of the human soul, you advocate a return to Christian asceticism and voluntary sobriety as a remedy for destructive consumerism.
This teaching of Your Holiness has had far-reaching ecumenical implications. As I mentioned earlier, Pope Francis, of blessed memory, referred with gratitude to Your Holiness’s teaching and to your pioneering role in deepening the ecological awareness of our Churches at the beginning of his encyclical Laudato si’. By so doing, he embraced the ecumenical spirit that acknowledges our need to learn from the Orthodox tradition. Indeed, we can and must learn from the East that faith has a fundamental cosmic dimension. This applies above all to the Divine Liturgy, which is celebrated within the vastness of the cosmos, embracing both history and creation, anticipating in its celebration the eschatological fulfilment of the world, and thus rendering transparent the wall between the heavenly and the earthly liturgy. This cosmic dimension is particularly pertinent in the current situation, when we have good reason to be concerned for creation and are called upon to address the ecological crisis at the heart of Christian witness. It is no coincidence that awareness of ecological issues has developed within Orthodox thought, and that you, Your Holiness, have emphasised the spiritual and theological roots of ecological problems with such passion. This concern has now become one of the key areas of ecumenical reflection and collaboration.
A third aspect of your contribution to ecumenical theology could be described as a theology of dialogue. During your patriarchal ministry, four of the seven documents of the international theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church were adopted. Your statements make it clear that, for Your Holiness, theological dialogue is fundamentally a search for truth – a goal that will surely not displease the Dominicans, disciples of St Thomas Aquinas, who have the motto ‘Veritas’. As you stated with Pope Francis in 2014, “theological dialogue does not seek a theological lowest common denominator on which to reach a compromise, but is rather about deepening one’s grasp of the whole truth that Christ has given to his Church, a truth that we never cease to understand better as we follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings. […] Such a common pursuit does not lead us away from the truth; rather, through an exchange of gifts, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it will lead us into all truth (cf. Jn 16:13)”[5].
Still on the subject of this theology of dialogue, Your Holiness embodies the inseparable nature of the dialogue of love and the dialogue of truth. Not only must the dialogue of love always accompany the dialogue of truth, but the dialogue of love itself has a theological dimension. This was emphasised by Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon, a pioneer of the ecumenical movement, who stated that “loving one another and dialoguing in charity, we do theology, or rather we build theologically”[6]. The role of theologians is not merely to resolve past controversies, but also to interpret the current relations between our churches. In a sense, our Churches have closer relations now than in the first millennium, even if, regrettably, we do not yet share full Eucharistic communion. These fraternal relations, which you have fostered, must certainly be interpreted theologically. Your revered predecessor, His Holiness Patriarch Athenagoras, is quoted as saying on this subject in 1964, ‘Church leaders act; theologians explain’. By promoting the dialogue of love, Your Holiness has provided theologians with material for the dialogue of truth between our Churches. The fact that the Dialogue of Love and the Dialogue of Truth belong inseparably together in your thought finds particularly beautiful expression in the title of the volume in which your “theological and spiritual exhortations” are collected: “Speaking the Truth in Love”[7].
Your Holiness, these are just some of the many ways in which you have made an invaluable contribution to ecumenical theology, to which I wished to pay tribute. I am expressing our gratitude not only on behalf of the academic community, but also on behalf of the Holy See, here represented by two of the closest collaborators of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV: His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State; and His Eminence Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. I would like to thank the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas for organising this event and, more broadly, for its commitment to ecumenical research and education following the Dominican tradition. My particular appreciation goes to its Grand Chancellor, Fra Gerard Timoner III OP; its Rector Magnificus, Fra Thomas Joseph White OP; and the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Fra Dominik Jurczak OP. I am especially grateful to the Œcumenicum, the Angelicum’s Institute for Ecumenical Studies, for promoting this initiative. I would also like to thank all the professors and students of the Angelicum and wish them a fruitful new academic year. And upon you, Your All-Holiness, in particular on the occasion of the 35° anniversary of your election as Ecumenical Patriarch yesterday, I pray for God’s abundant blessings and His merciful grace for your beloved person and your apostolic ministry, and especially for your tireless pursuit of unity, above all between the Sister Churches of Constantinople and Rome. Eucharisto polú!
[1] Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, Synodality and Primacy during the First Millennium: Towards a Common Understanding in Service to the Unity of the Church, Chieti, 2016, 5.
[2] Saint John Chrysostom, Explicatio in Ps. 149, in : PG 55, 493.
[3] Opening Address by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Inaugural Session of the Holy and Great Council, 20 June 2016.
[4] JOHN (Zizioulas, Metrpolitan of Pergamon, Foreword, in: J. Chryssavgis (ED.), Cosmic Grace + Humble Prayer. The ecological vision of the Green Patriarch Bartholomew (Cambridge 2009) VII-VIII.
[5] Common Declaration of Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Apostolic Delegation (Jerusalem), 25 May 2014
[6] Proche–Orient Chrétien 18 (1968) 361.
[7] Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Speaking the Truth in Love. Theological and spiritual exhortations of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (New York 2011).