The initiative, organized by the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, is in response to John Paul II's proposal in his 1995 encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" on ecumenical dialogue.

In No. 96 of the encyclical, the Pope called for a "fraternal dialogue" between "ecclesial leaders and theologians" to "engage with me in a patient and fraternal dialogue on this subject, a dialogue in which, leaving useless controversies behind, we would listen to one another, keeping before us only the will of Christ for his Church."

Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, will give the introduction.