CNS—Pope tells British bishops they must satisfy people’s spiritual hunger

from TitusOneNine by Kendall Harmon

Some people involved in efforts to promote full Anglican-Roman Catholic unity said the pope's special provisions were essentially an admission that full unity was virtually impossible because of the ordination of women priests and bishops and positions on homosexuality in some parts of the Anglican Communion.

Speaking to the Catholic bishops, though, the pope said his provision "should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics" by promoting unity while accepting differences.

The Rev. David Richardson, director of the Anglican Center in Rome and the archbishop of Canterbury's representative to the Vatican, said the idea of the ordinariate was initially billed as a "pastoral provision" for disaffected Anglicans and appears to offer benefits to them, but "seems to contribute nothing to the full visible unity" of the Anglican and Roman Catholic communities as a whole.

Full unity can only be achieved through formal dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole, Rev. Richardson told Catholic News Service.

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