Three Church of England bishops traveled to Rome last week for talks with Vatican officials about joining the Catholic Church, according to two of the bishops involved.
The bishops told The Associated Press they went to the Vatican to find out more about Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to invite disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic Church – a sensitive issue which has roiled relations between the two denominations and threatens to overshadow the pontiff’s visit to London later this year.
The Vatican’s spokesman said he had no information about the meeting.
Rev. Keith Newton, the bishop of Richborough, said the trip consisted of “nothing more than exploratory talks” and denied a report in The Sunday Telegraph that he and his colleagues had secretly promised the Vatican they were ready to defect to Rome.
“No decisions have been made,” he said.
The Vatican surprised many Britons last year when it unveiled plans to make it easier for traditional Anglicans upset over female priests and gay bishops to join the Catholic Church. The two issues have already pushed the Anglican Communion to the edge of a schism, and the Vatican’s intervention prompted some critics to say that Rome was poaching from the Anglican flock at a vulnerable time for the 80 million-strong religious body.
Benedict has defended the decision, saying the invitation was made in the spirit of ecumenism.
No comments:
Post a Comment