From The Telegraph-
The Archbishop of Canterbury, God love him, doesn't do showdowns. But he did, in his Anglican way, register a mild sense of grievance about the Vatican's decree making it easier for Anglo-Catholic communities to convert to Rome when he met Pope Benedict this weekend. "I wanted to express some of the concerns about the way in which the announcement had been handled, because clearly many Anglicans, myself included, felt that it put us in an awkward position for a time," Dr Williams said.
Well, if that's as near as we get to reliving the Reformation, I think we can breathe again, don't you? Mind you, in a speech before the event, Dr Williams did say the Catholic Church is not treating all baptised Christians equally by not ordaining women. That could have created a stir, but the Archbishop's knack for obfuscation means that it takes a while for his most inflammatory remarks to register. Anyway the meeting with the Pope was conducted "in a friendly spirit" and lasted all of 20 minutes, possibly because Pope Benedict was rushing off to meet some of the hundreds of artists he'd invited to the Sistine Chapel to talk about religion and art.
All fine and dandy; but I couldn't help contrasting this encounter with another meeting in Rome last week, presided over by our friend Colonel Gaddafi. He was there for a summit and got his minders to summon 500 "beautiful Italian girls" from an escort agency called Hostessweb for a reception. Not any old girls, either. They had to be aged 18-35 and no less than 5ft 7in – girls too short were turned away. What they got, instead of a few salty nibbles and a drink, was a lecture from Muammar Gaddafi about the merits of Islam and the deficiencies of Catholicism. Then they were sent off with a copy of the Koran and Muammar's Green Book of political thought.
More here-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6633722/What-if-the-Archbishop-of-Canterbury-tried-evangelising-Belle-de-Jour.html
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