London: A row linked to Pope’s attempt to welcome Anglicans into the Catholic fold may have deepened as the Archbishop of Westminster blamed Church of England bishops for keeping their leader in the dark about the Vatican's attempt to "entice Anglicans to Rome," the latest news report said.
Churches seemed to be headed for a showdown in Rome as the Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, prepared to visit Pope Benedict XVI for the first time since plans to admit Anglican opponents of women priests into the Catholic faith were published, The Times newspaper said today.
Anglican Bishop of Southwark, Dr Tom Butler, has accused the Pope of discourtesy.
Rev Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, deepened the row, saying it had been the "duty" of the Anglicans involved in the talks to keep their primate informed about the Pope’s plans.
"While approaches had been made to the Holy See, I don’t think that had been conveyed to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Frankly it was the duty of the Anglicans to do that," Archbishop Nichols said in an interview with The Tablet and reported by the British daily.
He was defending the Pope against accusations of discourtesy after he failed to inform Dr Williams before hand of the proposals for an Apostolic Constitution, or decree to set up a new Anglican ordinariate.
The announcement was sprung on a distressed Dr Williams last month with barely two weeks' notice.
The Vatican this month published the Apostolic Constitution, which enables thousands of disaffected Anglicans to become Catholics. Married Anglican clergy will be allowed to train for the priesthood in seminaries set up within the new Anglican ordinariates. The admission of married men will be "on a case-by-case basis", the report said.
The Constitution even allows for married Anglican bishops to be granted the status of retired Catholic bishops, to become members of the local Catholic bishops’ conference and to be allowed to use the "insignia" of episcopal office, such as the mitre, pectoral cross and staff, the London-based daily said.
Meanwhile, senior Catholics sought yesterday to quell speculation that the Pope's landmark visit to the UK next September had been downgraded from a State to a pastoral visit because of the dispute over the new Anglican Ordinariate, it reported.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, November 20, 2009, 11:50