EWTNnews.com | Diego López Marina | 2026-02-13 - “Catholics of the Byzantine tradition are one of the various Churches that exist in the Christian East,” explained Bishop Manuel Nin Güell, who was recently appointed by Pope Leo XIV as the new apostolic exarch of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata Monastery.

The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that “in Eastern Christendom an exarch is a bishop who holds a place between that of patriarch and that of ordinary metropolitan.”

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the prelate explained that the Byzantine Church developed in the context of the Byzantine Empire and the Greek language, having its own spiritual and liturgical tradition that over time adapted to multiple languages. Today, he noted, this heritage is lived in different parts of the world and, in the case of Byzantine Catholics, in full communion with the bishop of Rome.

These Catholics who live “the theology, spirituality, and liturgy of the Byzantine tradition are in full communion with the pope,” Nin summarized.

Communion restored after the schism

The exarch noted that the rupture between Constantinople and Rome in 1054 profoundly impacted Christian history. However, since the 15th century, various groups of Byzantine tradition have reestablished full communion with the pope in regions such as Lebanon, Syria, and Central Europe.

He explained that the essential difference between Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox today is “communion — or lack thereof — with the bishop of Rome,” even though they share liturgy, theology, and spirituality.

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