Rowan Returns

A month after the Holy See announced its historic initiative to accommodate groups of Anglicans seeking inclusion into the Roman fold, and a fortnight since the Apostolic Constitution paving the way to "personal ordinariates" was released, this morning the Pope received the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for the duo's third private meeting.

Here below, the Vatican release on the session:

This morning His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI received in private audience His Grace Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.

In the course of the cordial discussions attention turned to the challenges facing all Christian communities at the beginning of this millennium, and to the need to promote forms of collaboration and shared witness in facing these challenges.

The discussions also focused on recent events affecting relations between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, reiterating the shared will to continue and to consolidate the ecumenical relationship between Catholics and Anglicans, and recalling how, over coming days, the commission entrusted with preparing the third phase of international theological dialogue between the parties (ARCIC [the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission]) is due to meet.

In an Audience Eve conference (fulltext) at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, Williams raised some eyebrows by terming the state of ecumenism a "glass half full," recent developments included.

PHOTO: Reuters

-30-