The "Offer"

The semi-official newspaper of the Italian Bishops conference is reporting the Patriarch of Constantinople as saying that he made an offer of an undisclosed nature to the Pope when he was in Constantinople, and that he is awaiting his response...

Interviewer: This morning's speeches and the joint declaration that you have undersigned sounded "lofty" and certainly promising. You have even spoken of the future, regarding the [future] steps?

Patriarch Bartholomeos: Regarding this, I can say that I have spoken to His Holiness about something, something we can do. I have made him an offer about which I cannot yet talk, while we wait for an official response in this sense; however, I can say that His Holiness displayed great interest and welcomed the offer favorably. We hope that it can be accomplished, because it truly follows the prospects of that ecumenical progress which, as we have affirmed and even written in the Joint Declaration, we both are determined to pursue.