But he also reached out to the Eastern Orthodox Churches and spoke up for Christians persecuted in the Middle East.

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He apologised to Jews for Catholic passivity during the Holocaust, prayed at a Syrian mosque and took steps to heal the rift between Catholics and adherents of the various eastern Orthodox churches.

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Their Church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in 451AD because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ but is now, on most issues, doctrinally similar to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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