Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7735-266X
Abstract
This article examines Orthodox–Catholic relations between Georgia and Italy across three temporal registers: the historical legacy of Italian Catholic missionary engagement, the contemporary institutional and legal dynamics binding the two churches, and the prospects and obstacles that will shape ecumenical rapprochement in the years ahead. Building on the seven-century missionary record explored in the author’s preceding study for this journal, the analysis turns its principal attention to the present and future, as recommended by the journal’s editorial guidance. Drawing on Vatican primary documents, Georgian constitutional and statutory texts, the reports of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue, international religious-freedom monitoring, and survey data from the Caucasus Barometer, the article reconstructs a relationship in which cordiality at the level of persons has consistently coexisted with asymmetry at the level of institutions. It argues that four episodes together disclose a stable pattern the author terms participation without endorsement: the Georgian Orthodox Church’s withdrawal from the World Council of Churches in 1997, the collapse of the Georgia–Holy See agreement in 2003, the largely unattended papal Mass of 2016, and Georgia’s recorded reservations at Chieti in 2016 and Alexandria in 2023. The events of 2025–2026, namely Pope Leo XIV’s journey to Constantinople, the death of Patriarch Ilia II after nearly forty-nine years in office, and the divided election of Patriarch Shio III, have not dissolved that pattern so much as reopened it for negotiation. The article concludes that meaningful movement, if it comes, will arrive through property settlements, migration-driven pastoral cooperation in Italy, and scholarly exchange rather than through doctrinal convergence.
Recommended Citation
Tsotniashvili, Zaza
(2026)
"Orthodox–Catholic Relations Between Georgia and Italy: Historical Legacy, Contemporary Dynamics, and Future Prospects,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 46
:
Iss.
9
, Article 7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2229.2918
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol46/iss9/7