Orthodox Catholic Church

For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection and mourning followed by joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition. But this year, Easter — by far the most significant religious holiday for the world's roughly 300 million Orthodox — has essentially been canceled.

Pastors across the United States delivered sermons to empty pews March 15 as houses of worship adjusted to the reality of the coronavirus pandemic, with the Vatican indicating that the holiest week on its calendar will look vastly different next month.

Archbishop Charles Chaput has already presented his resignation notice to the pope, following church law as he turns 75 Sept. 26. Philadelphia Catholics spoke about Chaput's eight-year tenure, which will soon end.

Pope Francis expressed hope May 31 that the Catholic and Romanian Orthodox churches will work more closely together in the future. Catholics and Orthodox, said the pope, are meant to work together, especially in matters of charity and service to others.

Pope Francis will undertake some of the most intensive in-country travel yet planned in his six years of trips abroad, beatifying seven bishops from the Romanian Greek Catholic Church and, in a rare move, praying with an Orthodox patriarch.

Visiting the small Catholic communities in Bulgaria and North Macedonia offered an opportunity to encourage the faithful to remember God's miracle of being able to feed a multitude with just a few loaves and fishes, Pope Francis said.

Catholic and Orthodox leaders condemned the bulldozing of memorial crosses at a site of communist-era mass executions.

Catholics in Ukraine and Eastern Europe remain optimistic that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, once up and running, could herald a turn for the better in ecumenical relations.