Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Queen will stand up to Pope Benedict


From The London Guardian-

When Pope Benedict XVI dramatically announced on Tuesday that he was flinging open the doors of Rome to (possibly) thousands of disaffected Anglican priests, my neighbour the headhunter's wife – a cradle Catholic – said: "He's quite an old pope, isn't he?" Yep – he'll be 83 next April, deo volente. "He's looking towards his legacy," she said. "It's a very clever move, corralling them in at a time of unrest."

The procedures announced by the Vatican mean that not only priests but entire communities of Anglicans will be able to become Catholics via a "personal ordinariate". The Archbishop of Canterbury looked a little headachey as he told a news conference that he didn't see the Pope's plans as "an act of aggression" by Rome. Heavens, no. Just part of the routine relationship between the two Churches. Sort of thing. Erm.

Yes, well. We're all quite accustomed to our lipsticked Vicars of Dibley these days. While some of us are po-faced about women priests, some of us quite like them when we come across them. Especially at weddings, where the quality of motherliness can seem nicely appropriate. After one recent wedding, somebody said the service had been "so warm and wonderfully intimate, didn't you think? The bride and groom thought she was lovely." I said I couldn't hear a word she'd said and I was only three pews back.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/6418941/The-Queen-will-stand-up-to-Pope-Benedict.html

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