Archbishop’s Visit to the Pope
The Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury recently participated in a service in the Church of St Gregory in Rome, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the initial ecumenical dialogue between the then Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey. They have issued a joint declaration on unity and “charged 19 pairs of Catholic and Anglican bishops to return to their home countries and work together to promote joint prayer, joint proclamation of the gospel and, especially, joint works of charity and justice.”
The declaration states that “while much progress has been made”, new disagreements have arisen, “particularly regarding the ordination of women and more recent questions regarding human sexuality”, and that “behind these differences lies a perennial question about how authority is exercised in the Christian community”. These disagreements have largely arisen through the sinful compromises of the Church of England in recent decades. It is a sad and solemn reminder to us that the rejection of the light of the Word of God can lead to a situation where the Roman Church appears to be closer to biblical teaching on moral issues in its public pronouncements than some nominally-Protestant denominations.
The ultimate end of all such ecumenical “progress”, however, is the absorption of the entire visible Church under the authority of the papacy. Underneath the diplomatic, carefully-nuanced language, there lies the unchanging aspiration of Rome for complete dominion, while the Anglican Church under Archbishop Welby’s leadership seems increasingly willing to be wooed by Rome’s flattery. AWM