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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Pope Francis addresses the faithful during second vespers on the feast of Our Lady of the Snows at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Aug. 5, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Sep 23, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis canceled his me… […]
Pope Francis at the general audience at St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 18, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Oct 18, 2023 / 09:57 am (CNA).
Pope Francis drew upon the example of St. Charles de Foucauld during his general audience Wednesday in his ongoing catechesis on apostolic zeal to stress the importance of centering our lives on Jesus.
At the end of his remarks at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 18, the pope called for peace in the Middle East and announced that Oct. 27 has been designated as a day of prayer and fasting.
Before the assembled faithful, the pope said the “first step” for evangelization and conversion is putting “Jesus at the center of one’s heart.”
The pope, however, admonished that “we risk talking about ourselves, our group, a morality, or, even worse, a set of rules, but not about Jesus, his love, his mercy.”
He added, in unscripted remarks: “I see this in some new movements that are arising: They talk about their vision of humanity, they talk about their spirituality and they feel they are on a new path… But why don’t you talk about Jesus? They talk about many things, about organization, about spiritual paths, but they don’t know how to talk about Jesus.”
Pope Francis presides over his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Epitomizing this love for the Eucharist was St. Charles de Foucauld, who was canonized by Pope Francis in 2022. Born in 1858, he dedicated his life to missionary work in the Sahara, living and working among the Tuareg people (a subgroup of Berber people).
After serving in the French cavalry, he went on to become a Trappist, going to serve the poor in Syria, an experience that had a profound impact on him and helped define his understanding of poverty. He later discerned out of the Trappists and went to Palestine, where he went to live close to the Poor Clares.
“It is in Nazareth that he realizes he must be formed in the school of Christ. He experiences an intense relationship with him, spends long hours reading the Gospels, and feels like his little brother. And as he gets to know Jesus, the desire to make Jesus known arises in him,” the pope said.
It was this time in Palestine that provided him with the inspiration to write his prolific works, including “Letters from the Desert,” “Hope in the Gospels,” and “Meditations of a Hermit.” These writings became the essence of his spiritual legacy, inspiring the formation of numerous future religious congregations. He was assassinated in 1916 at his hermitage in Tamanghasset in southern Algeria after being kidnapped by an armed tribal group associated with the Senussi Bedouins.
Pope Francis closed his 2020 encyclical on fraternity and social action Fratelli Tutti with a reflection on the saint, writing: “Blessed Charles directed his ideal of total surrender to God towards an identification with the poor, abandoned in the depths of the African desert. In that setting, he expressed his desire to feel himself a brother to every human being, and asked a friend to ‘pray to God that I truly be the brother of all.’ He wanted to be, in the end, ‘the universal brother.’ Yet only by identifying with the least did he come at last to be the brother of all. May God inspire that dream in each one of us.”
Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis, in today’s catechism, noted that while de Foucauld lived “a youth far from God” he converted “by accepting the grace of God’s forgiveness in confession.” He was someone who “drawing upon his intense experience of God, made a journey of transformation towards feeling a brother to all,” the pope said, quoting Fratelli Tutti.
In contrast to the life of de Foucauld, the pope lamented the loss of Eucharistic devotion today. “I am convinced that we have lost the sense of adoration; we must take it up again, starting with us consecrated people, the bishops, the priests, the nuns, and all the consecrated people. ‘Wasting’ time in front of the tabernacle, to take up again the sense of adoration,” the pope said in an unscripted remark.
The pope presented the life of de Foucauld as an antidote to this tendency, saying that we “by kneeling and welcoming the action of the Spirit, who always inspires new ways to engage, meet, listen and dialogue, always in collaboration and trust, always in communion with the Church and pastors.”
“Every Christian is an apostle,” the pope said, quoting de Foucauld. In this way, he continued, “Charles foreshadows the times of Vatican Council II. He intuits the importance of the laity and understands that the proclamation of the Gospel is up to the entire people of God.”
The Holy Father concluded Wednesday’s general audience by renewing his appeal for peace in the Holy Land. “My thoughts turn to Palestine and Israel. Victims are increasing and the situation in Gaza is desperate. Please do everything possible to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe,” the pope pleaded.
He added: “War does not solve any problem… It increases hatred and multiplies revenge. War erases the future; it erases the future.”
In calling for a day of prayer and fasting , the pope invited members of other faiths to join an interfaith prayer vigil for peace on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. in St. Peter’s Square.
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.