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Archbishop Williams meets with pope in Vatican ceremony

Anglican Communion News Service

	Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (left) addresses Pope Benedict XVI during a meeting at the Vatican Nov. 23. -- Photo by Jim Rosenthal, ACNS

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams met with Pope Benedict XVI Nov. 23 at the Vatican, where the two signed a joint statement recommitting the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches to the ecumenical dialogue begun 40 years ago by their predecessors, Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI.

The church leaders also shared a joint worship service of prayers and psalms, attended by Vatican representatives and senior Anglican leaders who accompanied Williams to Rome.

Earlier, in a “Common Declaration” signed by the pope and Williams, the two leaders expressed thanks for 40 years of cooperation and dialogue between the Roman Catholic church and the churches of the Anglican Communion and renewed the historic commitment to the goal of “full visible communion in the truth of Christ.”

The two paid tribute to the continuing process of dialogue that began with the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Ramsey in 1966.

The churches share a common witness and service, the statement said, and there were issues and challenges that could be tackled jointly, including the pursuit of peace in the Holy Land, outreach to the poor and oppressed, and care for the environment. It also called for a recommitment by the two bodies to “inter-religious dialogue through which we can jointly reach out to our non-Christian brothers and sisters.”

During his formal audience with the pontiff, Williams praised Benedict’s ecumenical commitment. He acknowledged the difficulties and obstacles to unity and said that churches were affected by each other’s troubles.

During the audience, Williams presented the pope with a specially commissioned icon showing St. Gregory and St. Augustine — forebears of Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury respectively — in the presence of Christ the Savior, Lord of the earthly and heavenly realms. The icon was the work of Sergei Fyodoro, a Moscow-based iconographer.

Earlier in the day, Williams and the Anglican delegation said prayers in St. Peter’s Basilica at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, whose funeral Williams attended in 2005.

During his meeting with Benedict, Williams wore the episcopal ring presented to Archbishop Ramsey by Pope Paul VI during their meeting in 1966.