Rome refuses to comment on 'secret' Anglican meetings

From Irish Times-

SENIOR VATICAN spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi was yesterday unable to confirm UK media speculation that leading Church of England bishops held a series of secret “conversion” meetings with advisers to Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican last week. Other senior Vatican officials claimed to have no knowledge of such meetings.

Reports in yesterday’s online editions of the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail claimed the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst; the Bishop of Richborough, the Rt Rev Keith Newton; and the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham were involved in meetings with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last week.

The scope of the meetings was to discuss future Anglican conversions “en masse” to Rome with the bishops reportedly informing the Vatican that many Church of England clergy are keen to defect to Rome.

Were it not for the fact that all three bishops are well-known “traditionalists” – the Bishop of Fulham is the chairman of the Forward In Faith movement, noted for its opposition to the ordination of women to the Anglican priesthood and to liberal Anglican views on homosexuality – these reports might be easily dismissed. However, in the wake of the Holy See’s decision last November to create new ecclesiastical structures for disaffected, traditionalist Anglicans, the reports may not be without foundation.

More here-

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0503/1224269591652.html