The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church has announced the resumption of theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, which had been frozen since the publication of Fiducia Supplicans, after Pope Leo XIV offered assurances regarding the non-blessing of same-sex couples in a telephone conversation with Pope Tawadros II on May 15, 2026.
The decision was adopted during the annual plenary session of the Coptic Synod, held this Friday, May 22, in Egypt under the presidency of Tawadros II and with the attendance of 119 bishops. The official communiqué, published on the website of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, states that the members of the Synod agreed “to resume theological dialogue with the Catholic Church following the assurances regarding the non-blessing of same-sex couples,” expressed directly by Leo XIV.
The mention is significant: it constitutes the first public confirmation that the new pontiff has offered concrete doctrinal clarifications to an Eastern Church that had suspended ecumenical relations precisely because of the ambiguity of the Vatican document of December 2023. The Coptic Church, along with other Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Russian Orthodox Church itself, had at the time expressed outright rejection of Fiducia Supplicans, considering it incompatible with Christian doctrine on marriage and sexuality.
A gesture marking distance from the previous pontificate
That Leo XIV dedicated a call to reassure the Coptic Patriarch—and that the latter deemed the assurances sufficient to resume dialogue—suggests a change in tone compared to the management of ecumenical relations with Eastern Churches under Pope Francis. During the final months of the previous papacy, relations with the Orthodox Churches reached their most tense point in decades, not only because of Fiducia Supplicans, but also due to tensions arising from the Ukrainian conflict and the recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The Coptic communiqué does not detail the exact content of the “assurances” offered by Leo XIV, leaving open the question of whether this involves a restrictive interpretation of the current document or a commitment to future revision. In any case, the Coptic Church has considered the Pope’s word sufficient to unblock a dialogue dating back to 1973, when Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III signed a joint Christological declaration.
“The members of the Holy Synod decided to resume theological dialogue with the Catholic Church following the assurances regarding the non-blessing of same-sex couples, expressed during the telephone conversation between His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on Friday, May 15 of this year.”
Other matters of the Synod
The plenary session also addressed the processing of a new personal status law for the Christian family in Egypt, currently in the parliamentary approval phase, as well as the updating of the synodal regulations, in force for 41 years. The Synod also positively assessed the conference of Coptic dioceses of Europe, America, and Australia held in Venice, aimed at planning pastoral care for the diaspora until 2050.
The communiqué concludes with congratulations to Egyptian Muslims on the occasion of Eid al-Adha and a call to ignore “lies and malicious rumors” that seek to “sow doubt, division, and instability,” without specifying what it refers to.