From Canterbury to Rome. The celebrations marking 50 years of “closer and deeper relationships” between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church have started last Saturday in Canterbury with a summit attended by Anglican and Catholic bishops. Thirty-six Anglican and Catholic bishops from 19 countries are attending a week-long series of events which started last Saturday with the celebration of Vespers at Canterbury Cathedral and a Catholic Vigil Mass in the Cathedral’s crypt later in the evening. On Sunday morning, the bishops had a private meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and they are scheduled to attend a series of events throughout the week which will be an opportunity to discuss the pastoral challenges in their dioceses, their own experiences and their hopes for the way forward. The details of such initiative are provided by the Anglican Communion News Service ACNS.
On Wednesday, 5 October, the 36 bishops will meet in Rome together with Archbishop Justin and Pope Francis for the celebration of Vespers in the church of San Gregorio al Cielo. The service will feature the Sistine Chapel Choir and the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. The first Archbishop of Canterbury, St Augustine, was the prior of the monastery of San Gregorio before being sent by the Pope to evangelise England in 597. On Thursday, 6 October, Archbishop Welby will have a private meeting with Pope Francis ahead of a series of meetings with bishops and Vatican officials. As a “mark of their deep friendship and respect”, Archbishop Welby will wear the episcopal ring that Pope Paul VI presented to Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1966.
The celebrations will mark 50 years since the first historic meeting between a Pope and an Archbishop of Canterbury after the Reformation. It was a milestone in ecumenical relations when Archbishop Michael Ramsey paid an official visit to Pope Paul VI in 1966. It was the first time a Pope had met with the highest representative of the Anglican Communion and it was to mark that occasion that Pope Montini presented Archbishop Ramsey with his episcopal ring. Such a gift had great resonance throughout the whole world. The celebrations will also mark the 50th anniversary of the Anglican Centre in Rome and Archbishop Justin will host a dinner in Rome to celebrate five decades of “promoting Christian unity in a divided world”.
“The Anglican Centre has worked for fifty years to help Roman Catholics and Anglicans work together, pray together, study and talk together”, the present director, Archbishop David Moxon, said. “The journey we are on – he added – demands the laying-down of old fears and misconceptions of each other, and the building up of a shared story together. These celebrations mark the writing of a new chapter in the history of the Christian Church”.