Anglican Prelate Invites Pope to England
Rowan Williams Encouraged by Comments on Ecumenism
ROME, APRIL 25, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Anglican archbishop of
Canterbury is
encouraged by Benedict XVI's comments in support of ecumenism, and
extended
an invitation to him to visit England.
Rowan Williams met briefly with the Pope today during a papal audience
for
representatives of the Christian denominations and other faiths. The
meeting
was attended by Cardinal Walter Kasper and Father Don Bolen of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
"What has encouraged us on this visit is two things," Dr. Williams said
later at a press conference at the English College in Rome. "One is
that, of
course, Pope Benedict has gone out of his way to underline his sense of
the
priority of ecumenical work. He has spoken of being servants of unity,
and
we have taken that very much to heart as we have listened.
"But the second theme, which I think came through very clearly in the
magnificent homily he preached at the inaugural Mass was a theme of
united
Christian witness, a witness to the fact that -- as he said in that
homily -- 'the Gospel does not ask us to become less than human but
more deeply human.'"
The Anglican primate appeared at the press conference with Cardinal
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, archbishop of Westminster.
Of his meeting with Benedict XVI, the Anglican said: "It was a meeting
at
which a large number of ecumenical delegates were present, so it was
not
possible to speak in any great depth. But the Pope and myself were able
to
exchange a few words, and promised to pray for each other, at his
suggestion, as we moved forward in our ministries.
"I was very glad to be able to extend to the new Pope an invitation to
England, and to get to know the Church of England whenever that is
possible,
although we are all aware this will not be the only invitation he will
have
received in the last 24 hours or so."
The Anglican prelate offered a perspective on the life of Joseph
Ratzinger, the cardinal who would become the new Holy Father.
"I see that there are three phases in the life of the man who is now
Pope Benedict," Dr. Williams said. "As a theologian, originally in Germany,
he wrote some extraordinarily positive and abidingly fruitful things about
the nature of the Church and the nature of the Christian faith. Some of the
semi-popular writing he did in the 1970s, especially, I still find
extraordinarily fertile."
"The second phase," he said, "is one in which he is charged
professionally in his work here at the Vatican with doctrinal precision. And he has
constantly struggled, in ways in which of course people have found
problematic at times, for clarity of definition."
"He is now being asked to undertake a third task," the Anglican
observed.
"How he will perform that we do not know, but he has given signals of a
real willingness to take it forward in fellowship with others in the light
of the late Pope's 'Ut Unum Sint,' drawing others into the conversation about
how the Petrine ministry is to be exercised."
Dr. Williams added: "It seems to me that the events of recent weeks,
the death and the funeral of John Paul II and the events around the
inauguration of this weekend, have shown a kind of foretaste of a worldwide
fellowship of people gathered for worship in a way that has somehow gone around the
difficulties of doctrinal definition. It is as if we have been given a
glimpse of other levels of unity and my own feeling is that is the
level at which he will seek to work. That is certainly my prayer."
Editorial comment:
The underlined parts show that the Anglican Prelate just doesn't get it. Benedict XVI was talking about a "concrete" unity, not some feel good, lets all get along since we all call ourselves "Christian" mentality. Meanwhile, Europe slides further into hedonism....