About 50 Anglican clergymen, who are not in communion with the Catholic Church, took part in religious services at the highest-ranking papal basilica in Rome on Tuesday, April 18. The Vatican later released a statement of regret, attributing the incident to a failure in communication.
The clergymen, who were accompanied by Bishop Jonathan Baker of the Church of England, are part of the Anglican Communion, which broke away from the Catholic Church in 1534 amid King Henry VIII’s frustration that he could not receive an annulment for his marriage. The Catholic Church does not consider Anglican holy orders valid and does not recognize Anglican orders as valid, which means they cannot validly celebrate Mass.
The Anglican service was celebrated at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, which is the oldest basilica in Rome and the official seat of the bishop of Rome, the pope.
In a statement issued Thursday, Bishop Guerino Di Tora, who serves as the vicar of the archpriest of the Lateran Basilica, said the incident was the result of a “failure in communication” and that he “expresses deep regret for what happened.”
The statement said that “a group of about 50 priests, accompanied by their bishop, all belonging to the Anglican Communion, celebrated on the high altar of the cathedral of Rome in contravention of the canonical norms. Di Tora also explained that the regrettable episode was caused by a failure in communication.”
Pope Francis met with Baker and the other clergymen on Wednesday morning, but it’s unclear how or why they were given authorization to conduct a religious service at the archbasilica.
The Anglican clergy who took part in the service are Anglo-Catholic. Despite the name, the group is in communion with the Anglican Church and not in communion with the Catholic Church. Anglo-Catholics tend to hold more traditional views than the Anglican Church as a whole, such as an opposition to ordaining women.
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Sr. Victoria Kovalchuk with a refugee girl in Athens, Greece in April 2021. / Alexey Gotovsky/CNA.
Rome Newsroom, Apr 15, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).
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Pope Francis addresses international diplomats to the Holy See on Jan. 9, 2023, in the Vatican’s Blessing Hall. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Jan 9, 2023 / 06:28 am (CNA).
The global community is engaged in a “third world war” marked by heightened fear, conflict, and risk of nuclear violence, but a recommitment to “truth, justice, solidarity and freedom” can provide a pathway to peace, Pope Francis told international diplomats Monday.
Citing the ongoing war in Ukraine, but also drawing on conflicts in places such as Syria, West Africa, Ethiopia, Israel, Myanmar, and the Korean Peninsula, the Holy Father said this global struggle is being “fought piecemeal,” but is nonetheless interconnected.
“Today the third world war is taking place in a globalized world where conflicts involve only certain areas of the planet direct, but in fact involve them all,” said Pope Francis, speaking in the Vatican’s apostolic palace.
The pope made these remarks as part of his annual address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. Pope Francis characterized this speech as “a call for peace in a world that is witnessing heightened divisions and war.”
Pope Francis addresses diplomats to the Holy See in the Blessing Hall at the Vatican on Jan. 9, 2023. Vatican Media
As part of this heightening of tensions, the Pope warned about the increased threat of nuclear warfare, drawing particular concern to the stall in negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal. He told the gathered diplomats that the possession of nuclear weapons is “immoral” and called for an end to a mentality that pursues conflict deterrence through the development of ever-more lethal means of warfare.
“There is a need to change this way of thinking and move toward an integral disarmament, since no peace is possible when instruments of death are proliferating,” the pope said.
In proposing a path towards global peace, the Holy Father drew heavily from Pacem in Terris (“Peace on Earth”), the papal encyclical promulgated by St. John XXIII in 1962. Pope Francis said the conditions which prompted the “good Pope” to issue Pacem in Terris 60 years ago bear a striking similarity to the state of the world today.
In particular, the Holy Father drew from what John XXIII described as the “four fundamental goods” necessary for peace: truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom, values that “serve as the pillars that regulate relationships between individuals and political communities alike.”
Regarding “peace in truth,” the Holy Father underscored the “primary duty” of governments to protect the right to life at every stage of human life.
“Peace requires before all else the defense of life, a good that today is jeopardized not only by conflicts, hunger, and diseases, but all too often in the mother’s womb, through promotion of an alleged ‘right to abortion,’” said Pope Francis, also calling for an end to the death penalty and violence against women.
Speaking of the necessity of religious freedom for peace, the Holy Father noted widespread religious persecution against Christian minorities, but also discrimination in countries where Christianity is a majority religion.
“Religious freedom is also endangered wherever believers see their ability to express their convictions in the life of society restricted in the name of a misguided understanding of inclusiveness,” he said.
Regarding justice, the Holy Father called for a “profound rethinking” of multilateral systems such as the United Nations to make them more effective at responding to conflicts like the war in Ukraine. But he also criticized international bodies for “imposing forms of ideological colonization, especially on poorer countries” and warned of the growing risk of “ideological totalitarianism” that promotes intolerance towards those who dissent from certain positions claimed to represent ‘progress.’”
Pope Francis visits with international diplomats accredited to the Holy See on Jan. 9, 2023, at the Vatican. Vatican Media
The Holy Father also spoke of the need to deepen a sense of global solidarity, citing four areas of interconnectedness: immigration, the economy and work, and care for creation,
“The paths of peace are paths of solidarity, for no one can be saved alone. We live in a world interconnected that, in the end, the actions of each have consequences for all.”
Finally, regarding “peace in freedom,” Pope Francis warned of the “weakening of democracy” in many parts of the world, and an increase in political polarization. He said peace is only possible if “in every single community, there does not prevail that culture of oppression and aggression in which our neighbor is regarded as an enemy to attack, rather than a brother or sister to welcome and embrace.”
The Holy Father’s address to the diplomatic corps, which includes representatives of the 91 countries and entities with an embassy chancellery accredited to the Holy See, also served as an opportunity to review diplomatic highlights of the past year and expectations for the year to come.
Milestones included the signing of new bilateral accords with both the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe and with the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Holy Father also briefly mentioned the provisional agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China, first agreed to in 2018 and renewed in 2022 for an additional two years.
“It is my hope that this collaborative relationship can increase, for the benefit of the life of the Catholic Church and that of the Chinese people.”
The next significant marker on the pope’s diplomatic docket: His trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of the month as a “pilgrim of peace,” followed by a joint visit to South Sudan with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
We could say “a failure to communicate” (as with Steve McQueen in “Cool Hand Luke”), but inclusive/airbrush synodality (read ecclesial graffiti) is also a possibility. With reference to miracles, St. John Paul II insisted that “there are no coincidences.”
Possibly no coincidences elsewhere, either? Below, a link to a coincidental article, and comments…As at Buckingham Palace, is it time for a changing of the guard? Pope Francis recently confided to the media that he honestly asks his closest advisors this question, and reported that they (his handlers?) reassure him that everything is “fine”!
This can’t be a mistake. They needed permission to do that. This is where ecumenical theology, leads the Church Pope Francis is responsible for this and giving Charles pieces of the Holy Cross.The ancestor of Henry viii who beheaded Thomas Moore and Catholics who stood in his way. What a betrayal. Who destroyed the Catholic Church in England. This a total Disgrace. Is the Pope even Catholic,any more.lf he was this would not be happening.
It is in times like these that it feels wonderful to be an Episcopalian. We enjoy both the solidity of Reformation theology and the unerring sense of the sacred at the core of Catholic worship.
I’m inclined to think Maria is right. They wouldn’t just walk in church like that, 50 of them, and just start celebrating Mass. A comment I read the other day, attributed to Pope Francis again, that the Church “is still in diapers,” concerning morality. What an insult. Where has the Church been in 2,000 years?
Can we blame a failure to communicate the Catholic religion at their formation for all the boneheaded thoughts and deeds by high prelates in the last century?
I agree with you totally Dr Coelho. Unity serves the world much better and God too than the division we continue to experience in all parts of our life.
What was the motivation and the motive of the action?
If there is sign of realisation of error, sorrow over error, and convincing honesty to reunite with The Church, and they are willing to carryout the necessities as demanded by Pope Francis 1, they should be received back with joy as the father of the prodigal son received his son back and consistent with God’s wish for all.
Pretending, protesting, changing the words and rites…
Ignoring chastity as if marriage was more important than following Jesus or Mary’s given missions and messages. La Salette,Fatima, Guadalupe and so many other apparitions tell us. How disrespectfull to all Catholics. Who are they trying to kid?
What are Our Lady of Lourdes promises?
1) To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces. 2) Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace. 3) The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.
We could say “a failure to communicate” (as with Steve McQueen in “Cool Hand Luke”), but inclusive/airbrush synodality (read ecclesial graffiti) is also a possibility. With reference to miracles, St. John Paul II insisted that “there are no coincidences.”
Possibly no coincidences elsewhere, either? Below, a link to a coincidental article, and comments…As at Buckingham Palace, is it time for a changing of the guard? Pope Francis recently confided to the media that he honestly asks his closest advisors this question, and reported that they (his handlers?) reassure him that everything is “fine”!
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2023/04/19/pope-francis-donates-relic-of-the-true-cross-for-king-charles-coronation/#comment-364742
This can’t be a mistake. They needed permission to do that. This is where ecumenical theology, leads the Church Pope Francis is responsible for this and giving Charles pieces of the Holy Cross.The ancestor of Henry viii who beheaded Thomas Moore and Catholics who stood in his way. What a betrayal. Who destroyed the Catholic Church in England. This a total Disgrace. Is the Pope even Catholic,any more.lf he was this would not be happening.
It is in times like these that it feels wonderful to be an Episcopalian. We enjoy both the solidity of Reformation theology and the unerring sense of the sacred at the core of Catholic worship.
Indeed. Shocked that Vatican called Anglican Clergy is null and void. This is not the time to push apart.
I’m inclined to think Maria is right. They wouldn’t just walk in church like that, 50 of them, and just start celebrating Mass. A comment I read the other day, attributed to Pope Francis again, that the Church “is still in diapers,” concerning morality. What an insult. Where has the Church been in 2,000 years?
Can we blame a failure to communicate the Catholic religion at their formation for all the boneheaded thoughts and deeds by high prelates in the last century?
Unite and Serve is the way forward. Divide and Rule is the way backward.
I agree with you totally Dr Coelho. Unity serves the world much better and God too than the division we continue to experience in all parts of our life.
What was the motivation and the motive of the action?
If there is sign of realisation of error, sorrow over error, and convincing honesty to reunite with The Church, and they are willing to carryout the necessities as demanded by Pope Francis 1, they should be received back with joy as the father of the prodigal son received his son back and consistent with God’s wish for all.
Sounds like a plan to me.
🙂
Not a few Anglicans have crossed the Tiber recently and these Anglican Catholics share our beliefs on marriage and family.
Pretending, protesting, changing the words and rites…
Ignoring chastity as if marriage was more important than following Jesus or Mary’s given missions and messages. La Salette,Fatima, Guadalupe and so many other apparitions tell us. How disrespectfull to all Catholics. Who are they trying to kid?
What are Our Lady of Lourdes promises?
1) To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces. 2) Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace. 3) The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.