(OSV News) — Although the path to full communion has become “more difficult to discern,” Catholics and Anglicans must continue on the path of dialogue and “proclaim Christ to the world,” Pope Leo XIV said in his first meeting with Anglican Archbishop Sarah Mullally of Canterbury.
In his address to Archbishop Mullally during her visit to the Vatican April 27, the pope acknowledged that while much progress has been made on “historically divisive issues, new problems have arisen in recent decades” which have made the “ecumenical journey” more challenging.
Nevertheless, he said, it “would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear.”
According to a statement by the archbishop’s office, Archbishop Mullally joined the pope for midday prayer in the 17th-century Chapel of Urban VIII, located in the Apostolic Palace.
Welcoming the archbishop of Canterbury to the Vatican, Pope Leo noted that while “our suffering world greatly needs the peace of Christ, the divisions among Christians weakens our capacity to be effective bearers of that peace.”
“If the world is to take our preaching to heart, we must, therefore, be constant in our prayers and efforts to remove any stumbling blocks that hinder the proclamation of the Gospel,” the pope said. “This focus on the need for unity for the sake of a more fruitful evangelization has been a theme throughout my own ministry; indeed it is reflected in the motto I chose when I became a bishop: ‘In Illo uno unum’, ‘In the One — that is Christ — we are one.'”
While the ecumenical path of communion is complicated, Pope Leo said the Catholic Church and the Church of England continue to “journey together in friendship and dialogue.”
He also prayed that the Holy Spirit, “whom the Lord breathed on the disciples on the evening after his resurrection, will guide our steps as we prayerfully and humbly seek the unity which is the Lord’s will for all his disciples.”
“Your Grace, in thanking you for your visit today, I pray that the same Holy Spirit will remain with you always, making you fruitful in the service to which you have been called,” the pope said.
In her address to Pope Leo, which was published by her office, Archbishop Mullally expressed her gratitude to him for speaking “about the many injustices in our world,” especially during his recent apostolic journey in Africa.
“The world needed this message at this time — thank you,” she said. “It reminded us that despite our sufferings, people long for life in all its fullness, and countless people are working each day for this vision of the common good.”
The archbishop of Canterbury noted that in the ecumenical journey embarked upon by Catholics and Anglicans, the “Holy Spirit is inviting us into a deeper practice of hospitality, not simply as welcome, but as a form of ministry.”
It is “a willingness to make space for one another as those created in the image of God and called to grow more fully into his likeness,” she said. “Already, we receive from one another gifts we cannot generate alone: depth in prayer, courage in witness, perseverance in suffering, and faithfulness in service. In these, our common witness is strengthened.”
Recalling King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s visit to the Vatican in October, Archbishop Mullally said the British monarch “valued his recent visit” and assured Pope Leo “of a warm welcome from the Church of England should you honor the United Kingdom with a visit.”
Appointed as archbishop of Canterbury by King Charles in October, Archbishop Mullally is the Church of England’s first female to lead the Anglicans “in its 1,400-year history,” the Diocese of Canterbury said.
Anglicans claim 1,400 years of history because they identify the Church of England not as a new entity created during the 16th-century Reformation, but as the continuation of the church established in England by a Catholic saint — St. Augustine of Canterbury — in A.D. 597.
Archbishop Mullally’s meeting with Pope Leo was part of a four-day pilgrimage to Rome, which, according to her office, is meant “to strengthen Anglican–Roman Catholic relations through prayer, personal encounter, and formal theological dialogue.”
“The archbishop of Canterbury’s visit takes place within the context of the long-standing ecumenical relationship between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, rooted in the historic 1966 meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI,” Anglican Communion News Service said.
The pilgrimage began April 26 with a visit to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome to pray before the tombs of the apostles. In a tweet posted on X, Archbishop Mullally called for prayers “for the unity of his disciples and all God’s people.”
“Our world is deeply wounded by war, division and fear, and it longs for the peace, justice, reconciliation and hope that are found in Jesus Christ alone. We are called to proclaim and live this Gospel together, for the sake of the life of the world that God so loves,” she wrote.
In the evening, following her meeting with Pope Leo, Archbishop Mullally was to preside over vespers at the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization as homilist.
According to the archbishop’s office, Archbishop Mullally will appoint Anglican Bishop Anthony Ball, director of the Anglican Center in Rome, as her representative to the Holy See.
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