Surprisingly, the news about the Pope's initiative towards the Anglicans is very much downplayed in the Oct. 21 issue of L'Osservatore Romano - it gets a teaser paragraph on Page 1, at the bottom of the page, directing the reader to Page 8 (the last page of the usual single issue), which contains both the Note from the CDF and the joint statement by the Archbishops of Westminster and Canterbury.
Here is the news report that introduces the documents:
Informative note on personal Ordinariates
for Anglicans presented:
Apostolic Constitution published in two weeks
Translated from
the 10/21/09 issue of
An Apostolic Constitution on Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church will be published soon.
The announcement was made by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Tuesday morning, Oct. 20, at a news conference in the Vatican Press Office. Also present was Archbishop Joseph Augustine DiNoia, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments.
The Pope's initiative, explained the cardinal, is a response to "the numerous requests that have come from various groups of Anglican clergy and faithful from different parts of the world".
Asked to be more specific by a newsman, the cardinal estimated that "about 30 Anglican bishops are among the principal promoters of the request".
He was them asked if the Apostolic Constitution could have any effect on the coming conversations with the Lefebvrians which will start on Monday, Oct. 26.
The cardinal - starting his response with the remark that he was speaking in his role as both prefect of the CDF and president of the Ecclesia Dei Pontifical Commission - replied that it was simply a coincidence in time, "because when we were preparing the document, we were certainly not thinking of the FSSPX".
He then pointed out that the provision for the Anglicans who wish to join the Catholic Church was done with the approval of the Anglican Communion under Archbishop Rowan Williams "who has consented to the operation", and that "at the same time we atarted this news conference, a similar one is taking place in London to present the initiative".
International news agencies have reported that the Archbishop of Canterbury has stated that the Vatican decision was not interpreted in the light of the internal problems of the Anglican Communion, but was a response to requests from individual Anglicans.
In this sense, Archbishop Williams stressed, the document will not have any negative impact on relations between the Anglican Communion adn the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Levada, answering a question about the ordination of women and homosexual priests, said that "if these problems [in the Anglican Church] did not exist, we would probably be much nearer [in the ecumenical sense]. But this does not represent in any way a diminution of our ecumenical commitment".
Archbishop DiNoia framed the initiative in th wake of Vatican-II and noted that even this new step in the ecumenical journey is an impulse from the Holy Spirit, just as all the other initiatives for proceeding with ecumenical dialog "according to Christ's will".
Asked what motivated the Anglicans to request to join the Catholic Church, Cardinal Levada said there were about a hundred Anglican bishops who said that they already feel Catholic and wished to join the Church, also declaring that they accept the Petrine ministry as an element instituted by Christ for his Church.
Cardinal Levada said that the forthcoming Apostolic Constitution was only specific for Anglicans, and would not apply to other Protestant confessions, and certainly not to Catholic priests who have left their ministry to get married.
Asked when the Apostolic Constitution would be published, the cardinal said it would take another two weeks to finalize the draft document which he had on hand.
I think the downplay of the story in OR is an act of ecumenical courtesy - so as not to appear to be flaunting what is clearly a potential if not already actual loss to a sister 'church' [actually, a daughter church) with consequent gain for Rome.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 22/10/2009 11:33]