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Catholic World News News Feature

Blunt papal words for Anglican leader November 24, 2006

While welcoming the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Vatican on November 23, Pope Benedict XVI spoke plainly about the current tensions between the Holy See and the Anglican communion.

In his opening remarks at an audience with Dr. Rowan Williams, the Holy Father recalled "the long history of relations between the See of Rome and the See of Canterbury which began when Pope Gregory the Great sent Saint Augustine to the land of the Anglo-Saxons over 1400 years ago."

The Pope noted, too, that this week's audience occurred during the 40th anniversary of the visit to Rome by a previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Michael Ramsey, whose talks with Pope Paul VI inaugurated the first official ties between the two Christian bodies since the Reformation. "There is much in our relations over the past forty years for which we must give thanks," the Pontiff said.

Today, however, there are "strains and difficulties" in the relationship, the Pope observed-- adding that there are strains within the Anglican communion as well. The source of these problems, the Pope continued, are recent trends in Anglican thought and practice "especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings." He was clearly referring to the Anglican decisions on homosexuality and on the ordination of women. The Pope concluded his blunt appraisal of current tensions by expressing his "fervent hope that the Anglican Communion will remain grounded in the Gospels and the apostolic tradition."

The Pope remarked, significantly, that the Gospels and tradition form "the basis of our common aspiration to work for full visible unity"-- a warning that insofar as the Church of England breaks from traditional Christian teachings, the prospects for ecumenical progress will be severely compromised.

The Pope's strong word echoed previous messages by leading Catholic prelates to the Anglican leadership. In June, as the Church of England discussed the prospects for ordination of women as bishops, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity warned that a step in that direction could be devastating to the cause of ecumenism. Cardinal Walter Kasper observed that the talks of the past 40 years have been based on the presumption that both sides hope eventually to restore full communion. "The presupposition would realistically no longer exist" if women became bishops, Cardinal Kasper warned.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, Britain's leading Catholic prelate, delivered a similar warning that the restoration of full communion would be "out of reach" if the Church of England proceeded with the ordination of women as bishops. The question of women's ordination, and the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop in the US, have caused a serious crisis within Anglican ranks also. Some large and growing Anglican communities, especially in Africa, have warned that they could break ties with the Church of England. Indeed, as Archbishop Williams was in Rome for his talks with Pope Benedict, the London Daily Telegraph speculated that the deep divisions in the Anglican world could force the Archbishop of Canterbury out of office. During his November 23 meeting with the Pope, the Anglican leader acknowledged that ecumenical talks have encountered difficulties in recent years. He said that it would be important to be honest and open in talks, and to base the pursuit of Christian unity on a common determination to be "ambassadors of Christ."

Pope Benedict had suggested a similar determination in his remarks. "The world needs our witness and the strength," he told the visiting Anglican leader, adding that the strength "comes from an undivided proclamation of the Gospel."