Pope meets commission on church history

(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 30 - Participants in this week's meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church should focus on the way the churches offered communion in the first centuries, and sacraments such as baptism, Pope Francis said on Friday in an audience with members of the commission.
    The five-day meeting between members of the Oriental Orthodox churches and the Catholic church began on Monday, with the aim of producing a joint document on "Communion and Communication in the first five centuries of Christianity".
    Oriental Orthodoxy, not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox Church, recognizes only the first three ecumenical councils, and experienced a schism with the rest of Christendom in the 5th century following the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD.