From 15-22 September 2016, Msgr Paul McPartlan participated in the latest plenary meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, held at Francavilla al Mare, in the Diocese of Chieti-Vasto, Italy. The meeting approved a new agreed statement, entitled: Synodality and Primacy During the First Millennium: Towards a Common Understanding in Service to the Unity of the Church (available here ). The last agreed statement was the 2007 Ravenna Document, and progress on the topic of synodality and primacy, especially at the universal level of the Church, with regard to the position of the bishop of Rome (i.e. the pope) as universal primate, has been difficult since then, with the failure of two previous draft statements in Vienna (2010) and Amman (2014). So this new agreement, which will be known as the Chieti Document, marks a significant step forward in Catholic-Orthodox relations.