wfn.org | ACNS - Archbishop of Canterbury Visits Rome

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3036 - LAMBETH PALACE - 21 June 2002

Archbishop of Canterbury's visit to Rome

[Photographs to accompany this article are available from
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/.]

Text of a formal Greeting to Pope John Paul II from the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr George Carey, given at the Vatican on 21st June 2002.

Greeting to Pope John Paul II

Your Holiness, Beloved Brother in Christ, it gives me great pleasure to
greet you once again in the name of our common Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. This is my sixth and last visit to you as Archbishop of Canterbury,
and I am glad to have the opportunity to meet you again before I lay down my
office. During the last eleven years I have been aware of the growing
closeness, mutual affection and respect between our churches, and this has
found expression in a number of deep friendships. I have been grateful, Your
Holiness, for your prayers and the warmth of your welcome on the several
occasions that my wife and I have visited you.

I am thankful for this opportunity to pay tribute to your ministry as Father
in God for the vast family of Catholics in Communion with the See of Peter.
Your great courage, wisdom and holiness of life have touched and inspired
Christians throughout the world. You have strengthened your brethren, as our
Lord commanded Saint Peter, and you have carried this ministry to many
places and to countless people. Your invitation to Church leaders and
theologians to engage with you in a patient and fraternal dialogue about the
Petrine ministry has made it possible for us to reflect on ways in which a
Primacy of love and service could be a gift to share. While we are not yet
in the full communion to which the Lord calls us, I rejoice in our shared
baptismal faith and the growth in fellowship between our two churches.

Yesterday I met some of my other friends here, in the Pontifical Councils
for the Promotion of Christian Unity and for Inter-Religious Dialogue. We
have continued conversations about matters of shared concern, not just
relationships between our churches but areas in which we are already working
closer together.

As a sign of the progress in relationships in my own country, earlier this
month I signed a covenant with other church leaders in England, including my
dear friend Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor. We committed ourselves to work
towards the visible unity of the Church of Jesus Christ in the one faith,
expressed in common discipleship, worship, witness and service. On a wider
level, I an encouraged by the continuing work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic
International Commission, and the degree of fundamental agreement between
our churches on so many aspects of our faith that the Commission has
identified and articulated. I am glad that you and I have been able to
inaugurate the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity
and Mission, and I look forward to the fruits of the work in bringing our
degree of theological convergence into practical outcomes which will enrich
the lives of our churches. The work of these bodies is bringing us closer to
the full visible unity which we seek in Christ's name.

As a sign of the hospitality which we are able to offer each other, I am
especially grateful for the welcome given to the exhibition Anglicanism and
the Western Christian Tradition, organised by Her Majesty's Ambassador and
the Dean and Chapter of Norwich, and now being displayed in the Sala
Sistina. This illustrates the tradition we share, and some of the historical
events which have coloured our past relationships. Since the historic visit
of my predecessor Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1966, the Anglican Centre has
been established as a sign and a means of our commitment to each other, and
to growth in mutual understanding and fellowship.

One of the major figures in that shared tradition is my predecessor St
Anselm, thirty-sixth Archbishop of Canterbury. As monk, abbot and
archbishop; statesman, theologian and philosopher he made a profound and
enduring contribution to the life of the Church. It gives me great pleasure
to present you with this study of his life and work.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Quotes from the Archbishop of Canterbury

I was greatly moved by this my last visit to His Holiness John Paul II. The
strength of his words and the authority with which he spoke gives me great
hope for the continuing journey in ecumenism to which we are both so
committed.

I personally am grateful for his affectionate welcome today to me and my
wife, along with Bishop Garrard, my representative to the Holy See and my
party. I truly felt a strong sense of brotherly support, as we have once
again pledged to work for peace with justice, in the troubled world.

I am grateful to God for the ecumenical advances realised during my time as
Archbishop.

The welcome for the substantial exhibition on view in the Salone Sistina on
Anglicanism is a visible sign of the Vatican's hospitality.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Note for editors:

The Archbishop has been on a two-day private visit to Rome.

_______________________________________________
The ACNSlist is published by the Anglican Communion Office, London.

Please send QUESTIONS or COMMENTS to acnslist@anglicancommunion.org. Any 
comments about the content of the article should be directed to the author. 
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY to this message, as any replies are discarded 
automatically.

You can subscribe/unsubscribe online at 
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/subscribe.html

ACNS mailing list