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There was no single event that marked the breakdown. Rather, the two churches slid into and out of schism over a period of several centuries, punctuated with temporary reconciliations. During the [[Fourth Crusade]], however, Latin crusaders and Venetian merchants sacked [[Constantinople]] itself, looting [[Hagia Sophia|The Church of Holy Wisdom]] and various other Orthodox Holy sites. This event and the final treaty established the [[Latin Empire|Latin Empire of the East]] and the [[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople]] (with various other [[Crusader states]]). This period of chaotic rule over the sacked and looted lands of the Byzantine Empire is still known among Eastern Christians as [[Frangokratia]]. Later attempts at reconciliation, such as the [[Second Council of Lyon]], met with little or no success until the middle of the Twentieth Century.{{Fact|date=November 2008}}
In 1965, the Catholic Pope [[Pope Paul VI]] and Patriarch [[Patriarch Athenagoras I]] of Constantinople lifted the mutual excommunications dating from the eleventh century.<ref>Joint Declaration [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/speeches/1965/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19651207_common-declaration_en.html]</ref>. In 1995 (Jun 29), Pope [[Pope John Paul II]] and Patriarch [[Patriarch Bartholomew I]] of Constantinople again withdrew the previous 11th Century excommunications and concelebrated the Eucharist together.
In May 1999, [[John Paul II]] was the first pope since the Great Schism to visit an Eastern Orthodox country: [[Romania]]. Upon greeting John Paul II, the Romanian Patriarch [[Teoctist Arăpaşu|Teoctist]] stated: "The second millennium of Christian history began with a painful wounding of the unity of the Church; the end of this millennium has seen a real commitment to restoring Christian unity."
Pope [[Pope John Paul II]] visited other heavily Orthodox areas such as [[Ukraine]], despite lack of welcome at times, and he said that healing the divisions between Western and Eastern Christianity was one of his fondest wishes.
==Extant disputes==