The head of the Church of England, Archbishop Rowan Williams of
Canterbury met privately in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI on Nov. 18.
The meeting comes at an awkward time in relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church.
On Nov. 8, five Anglican bishops announced they were resigning their
posts to enter the Catholic Church under special terms outlined last
year by Pope Benedict.
One of the five, Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham, told the London
Times, that he believed thousands, not hundreds, of laity would follow
them into the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Williams had already been scheduled to visit Rome to take
part in 50th anniversary celebrations of the Vatican’s Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
However, his meeting with the Pope recalled one held in Rome almost
exactly one year ago — after the Pope had released his plans to create
“personal ordinariates” for Anglicans seeking to come over to Rome.
Details of this latest meeting have not been released. Archbishop
Williams did address the conversions in an interview with Vatican Radio
Nov. 18.
He said he was “deeply skeptical” about the “larger claims” of a massive exodus of Anglicans to Rome.
Asked about the Pope’s invitation to Anglicans and his creation of
personal ordinariates, Archbishop Williams said: “I don’t see it as an
aggressive act, meant to destabilize the relations of the churches, and
it remains to be seen just how large a movement we’re talking about.”
For the first time, Archbishop Williams suggested that worshipers who
join the ordinariate could be allowed to stay in their Anglican
churches under a plan to let Roman Catholics share Church of England
facilities.
The process is just getting underway and the parameters for new
dioceses to be composed of former Anglicans, called "personal
ordinariates," are still up in the air.
By way of these ordinariates
Anglicans will be able to "cross over" singly or en masse into the
Catholic Church while retaining their liturgical traditions.
Through direct communication between the bishops and the Vatican's
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the first could be created
in the United Kingdom in 2011.
SIC: CNA/INT'L