Vatican City, Nov 2, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will meet with Pope Benedict XVI on Nov. 23 to mark the 40th anniversary of a landmark visit to Rome by the former head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Archbishop Michael Ramsay.
Archbishop Williams said the visit would allow the “opportunity to pursue the rich tradition of exchange between Canterbury and Rome” and to reflect on the last 40 years as well as on future relations.
The meeting will take place as tensions between the two churches have increased recently, due to the decision by some elements of the Anglican Communion to approve openly homosexual and female bishops as well as same-sex unions. There had been disagreement previously regarding the Anglican Communion’s decision in 1994 to ordain women priests.
In June of this year several Catholic bishops, including the Church’s ecumenism chief Cardinal Walter Kasper, warned Williams that the attempt to ordain woman as bishops, would make unity “unreachable.”