It was 11 November 1994, when Pope St. John Paul II and the then-Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, signed the Common Christological Declaration, which marked, as the text states, "a basic step on the way towards the full communion" between the Catholic Church and the Church of the East.

The Ceremony

Thirty years after that event, on Saturday, November 9, Pope Francis and the Assyrian Catholicos His Holiness Mar Awa III will be together at the Vatican for the anniversary celebrations, which are also tied to another milestone -- the 40th anniversary of the first visit of an Assyrian Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV to Rome to meet Pope St John Paul II in 1984, inaugurating the work if the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

Some members of the joint commission will accompany Patriarch Mar Awa III's visit with Pope Francis, as stated in a note from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, which highlights that the commission has "recently begun a new phase of dialogue on liturgy in the life of the Church."

The 1994 Declaration

"Whatever our Christological divergences have been," reads a passage from the 1994 Declaration, "we experience ourselves united today in the confession of the same faith in the Son of God who became man so that we might become children of God by his grace." The text concludes, "The faith and the mutual trust already existing between our Churches entitle us from now on to consider witnessing together to the Gospel message and cooperating in particular pastoral situations, including especially the areas of catechesis and the formation of future priests."