Utroque said ...quote...."You might read the statement issued by the Joint International Commission that I linked in my last Thread under this East/West heading as an aid in helping you to understand what Pope Francis is saying since he is taking a cue from that ecumenical gathering in Alexandria of Egypt as he states in one of the above paragraphs. "

I have been trying to wrap my head around this discussion, and thank all of you for the topic and alerting us to the importance of the Papal address and documents related to it. I find that reading the Alexandria, 2023, document to be the helpful backdrop to the Papal address.  Thank you Utroque. Additionally, I was pleased to learn that there is a whole series of documents put forth by the:

Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue
between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church

There is a list of these on wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_International_Commission_for_Theological_Dialogue_Between_the_Catholic_Church_and_the_Orthodox_Church 

The Alexandria, 2023, document is the latest of these. It's title is: Synodality and Primacy in the Second Millennium and Today"....the one Utroque refers to.

Prior to this one, is the Chieti, Italy, 2016, document. It's title is: " Synodality and Primacy during the First Millennium: towards a common understanding in service to the unity of the Church"......here is one link:

https://www.ecupatria.org/synodalit...g-in-service-to-the-unity-of-the-church/

Forgive me for stating things that you are already aware of....but I wasn't.....and I am grateful for this opportunity to find out. I also discovered that some of the previous documents were rejected by certain branches of Orthodoxy.

At any rate, reading these last two documents helped put things into a little perspective. Here is my basic understanding. 

The 2016 statement concludes that the notions of Primacy and Synodality existed side by side in the Church. They were not seen as " at odds" but compatible and in keeping with spiritual and Apostolic ideals. 

The 2023 statement outlines the unfortunate circumstances (many of them geo- political) that ruined the compatibility of these notions. 

Therefore, the task of the Commission, and those desiring unity, is to identify how Primacy and Synodality co- existed in the same Church for some one thousand years.  Further, how both concepts are needed by the Church once again, in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

If my over simplified conclusion is flawed, please correct. If my observations are correct, we are in the early stages of this Commissions' examinations. The previous meetings, and their findings, are the context for subsequent meetings. Perhaps a certain ambiguity is appropriate at this point. A foundation of mutually agreed upon starting points has been laid. Details and specifics will come later. Perhaps the Pope's heart (full of love) is more important than a brain (full of specifics) , as he encourages the Commission to keep working.