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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   PROGRESS IN MANY AREAS OF ANGLICAN-CATHOLIC DIALOGUE   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 17 SEP 2010 (VIS) - At 3.40 p.m. today the Holy Father travelled   
   by car to Lambeth Palace in London, the official residence of the archbishop of   
   Canterbury. The palace library, one of the oldest in the country, contains more   
   than 120,000 books concerning the political, social and economic history of   
   English-speaking countries. It also houses the archives of the archbishops of   
   Canterbury from the thirteenth century to the present, and the archives of the   
   Church of England.   
      
   The Church of England, a national Church which broke away from the Catholic   
   Church in 1533 when King Henry VIII passed the Act of Supremacy, is made up of   
   the ecclesiastical provinces of Canterbury and York which comprise the forty-   
   three dioceses of the United Kingdom. The Church of England has twenty-five   
   million faithful, forty-three percent of the country's population; Queen   
   Elizabeth is its supreme governor while its spiritual head is the archbishop of   
   Canterbury, primate of all England. The archbishops who preside over the two   
   provinces and twenty-four other bishops sit by right in the House of Lords. The   
   Anglican Communion has some eighty million faithful in thirty-eight autonomous   
   provinces in 164 countries.   
      
   Arriving at Lambeth Palace the Holy Father was welcomed into the library by   
   Rowan Williams, the current archbishop of Canterbury. Also present at the   
   meeting were the archbishop of York, the primate of Scotland, and the bishops   
   of London and Winchester.   
      
   The Holy Father visited an exhibition currently being held in the library   
   commemorating the 400th anniversary of its foundation. Then, following a brief   
   prayer and some remarks from Archbishop Williams, he delivered an address to   
   those present.   
      
   Recalling how Archbishop Williams had mentioned the historic meeting thirty   
   years ago between Pope John Paul II and Robert Runcie, then archbishop of   
   Canterbury, Benedict XVI noted that, despite "the difficulties that the   
   ecumenical path has encountered and continues to encounter", in the forty years   
   since the inception of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission   
   there has been "remarkable progress ... in so many areas of dialogue".   
      
   "The context in which dialogue takes place between the Anglican Communion and   
   the Catholic Church has evolved in dramatic ways since the private meeting   
   between Pope John XXIII and Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher in 1960", said Pope   
   Benedict. "On the one hand, the surrounding culture is growing ever more   
   distant from its Christian roots, despite a deep and widespread hunger for   
   spiritual nourishment. On the other hand, the increasingly multicultural   
   dimension of society, particularly marked in this country, brings with it the   
   opportunity to encounter other religions. For us Christians this opens up the   
   possibility of exploring, together with members of other religious traditions,   
   ways of bearing witness to the transcendent dimension of the human person and   
   the universal call to holiness. ... Ecumenical co-operation in this task   
   remains essential, and will surely bear fruit in promoting peace and harmony in   
   a world that so often seems at risk of fragmentation.   
      
   "At the same time", he added, "we Christians must never hesitate to proclaim   
   our faith in the uniqueness of the salvation won for us by Christ, and to   
   explore together a deeper understanding of the means He has placed at our   
   disposal for attaining that salvation. God 'wants all to be saved, and to come   
   to the knowledge of the truth', and that truth is nothing other than Jesus   
   Christ. ... In fidelity to the Lord's will, ... we recognise that the Church is   
   called to be inclusive, yet never at the expense of Christian truth. Herein   
   lies the dilemma facing all who are genuinely committed to the ecumenical   
   journey".   
      
   In this context, the Pope mentioned Cardinal John Henry Newman, "whose   
   ecclesial vision was nurtured by his Anglican background and matured during his   
   many years of ordained ministry in the Church of England. He can teach us the   
   virtues that ecumenism demands: on the one hand, he was moved to follow his   
   conscience, even at great personal cost; and on the other hand, the warmth of   
   his continued friendship with his former colleagues, led him to explore with   
   them ... the questions on which they differed, driven by a deep longing for   
   unity in faith".   
      
   "In that same spirit of friendship", Pope Benedict concluded, "let us renew our   
   determination to pursue the goal of unity in faith, hope, and love, in   
   accordance with the will of our one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ".   
      
   After his meeting with the archbishop of Canterbury, Benedict XVI travelled by   
   popemobile to Westminster Hall.   
   PV-UNITED KINGDOM/VIS 20100918 (760)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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