For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us forgiveness.
(Pope John Paul II, May 2001)
I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
(Nicene Creed)
The year the towers fell, John Paul
set foot where he was not welcome.
A Polish pope stretched out his hand,
though age had made him weak in grasp,
and held the breach, deep into past,
and said that it was wrong.
How far are spirits breached? How long
must souls be searched to find the start?
A silent prayer in Umayyad
cuts back to Hagar, Ishmael.
The God-who-sees hears whispered prayers
and knows how nations fell.
If we don’t speak of Cyprus now,
if East and West still cannot meet,
if schism is a constant truth
and where Saint Paul walked stands a wall:
thank God for arms that span the breach
and bear our coffin nails.
We cannot see al-Assad now
beside the pope and hope that he
will bring the peace we long to see;
the breach stands still, is deeper now,
yet Spirit moans for unity,
for being Three-In-One.
The Consolations of Writing 