VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV and Armenian Apostolic Church leader Aram I discussed convening a “Third Vatican Council” during a private meeting at the Vatican on May 18.
Pope Leo XIV received Aram I in a private audience at the Vatican on Monday, where the two Church leaders discussed several ecumenical and geopolitical issues, including a proposal for the convocation of a Third Vatican Council. According to a statement published the following day by the Armenian Apostolic Church’s Holy See of Cilicia, Aram I raised the matter directly with the Pope and described it as an urgent question for the universal Christian Church.
“The establishment of a unified date for Easter, the designation of a commemorative day for all martyrs, and the convening of a Third Vatican Council” were among the principal issues raised by Aram I during the meeting, according to the Armenian Apostolic Church statement.
The same Armenian statement said that, “In response to the aforementioned points, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV expressed his understanding and support, while providing the necessary clarifications from his perspective.”
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The Vatican’s official bulletin did not explicitly mention the proposal for a Third Vatican Council, but it confirmed that the Pope and Aram I held a private meeting, exchanged addresses and gifts, and later participated in communal prayer in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. In his speech, Leo XIV emphasized the history of theological dialogue between Rome and the Oriental Orthodox Churches and expressed hope that ongoing ecumenical discussions would continue “with renewed vigour.”
The Pope also praised Aram I for his longstanding involvement in ecumenical initiatives, referring to his work within the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches. Leo XIV noted that theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches has continued since 2003 through a joint international commission that has already produced documents concerning the Church, sacraments, and communion in early Christianity.
The Armenian statement added: “It should also be noted that, following the meeting, the Catholicos [the leader of the Armenian Church] and the Pope engaged in a further private conversation, exchanging views and concerns on these and other related matters.” The content of this second private meeting is unknown.
The meeting took place amid broader Vatican efforts to restore and deepen relations with the Oriental and Orthodox Churches after tensions linked to the 2023 Vatican declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which authorized non-liturgical blessings for couples in “irregular unions,” including same-sex “couples.” Days before receiving Aram I, on May 15, Leo XIV held a telephone conversation with Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church and earlier, on May 4, he sent him a public letter calling for renewed theological dialogue between Rome and the Copts.
In his May 18 address to Aram I, Leo XIV acknowledged that ecumenical dialogue had encountered “recent difficulties,” but he stated that “there can be no restoration of communion between our Churches without unity in faith.”
It is noteworthy that the proposal for a Third Vatican Council did not originate from Catholic authorities, but is explicitly advanced by representatives of separated Churches during ecumenical discussions with Rome. Throughout Church history, heretical and schismatic groups resisted councils because they were traditionally convened to condemn doctrinal error and define disputed points of faith with precision.
By contrast, since the period surrounding the Second Vatican Council, non-Catholic communities have increasingly encouraged new conciliar initiatives in connection with ecumenical goals rather than doctrinal clarification.
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The question of establishing a common Easter date between Catholics and Orthodox Christians predates the current meeting between Leo XIV and Aram I. In 2025, during commemorations linked to the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, Leo XIV publicly referred to the possibility of a shared Easter celebration.
Supporters of the proposal argue that a unified date would strengthen Christian witness and improve relations between Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Leo himself stated that what unites Catholics and Orthodox is “stronger, quantitatively and qualitatively, than what divides” them.
This view has been condemned by Catholic magisterium as “latitudinarianism,” because all revealed truths possess binding authority and cannot be ranked according to perceived importance.
Indeed, the First Council of Nicaea established a common Paschal calculation to safeguard doctrinal and liturgical unity within a single Church already united in faith, not as a diplomatic compromise between separated ecclesial bodies. In contrast, present-day ecumenical proposals risk subordinating doctrine to institutional negotiation and may create the appearance of unity without resolving fundamental theological disagreements, including disputes concerning papal primacy. In this interpretation, a common Easter celebration without full doctrinal communion could risk fostering religious relativism rather than unity.
The Armenian Apostolic Church occupies a distinctive place in Christian history because Armenia became the first kingdom officially to adopt Christianity as a state religion, traditionally dated to the early fourth century under King Tiridates III.
However, the Armenian Apostolic Church is separated from Rome and doctrinally heterodox after it rejected the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and subsequently developed outside communion with the Roman See. Catholic theology distinguishes between the Oriental Orthodox Churches – such as the Armenian, Coptic, and Syriac Churches, which rejected Chalcedon – and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, which separated from Rome after the Great Schism of 1054 while continuing to accept Chalcedon and later Byzantine councils.