Saturday, December 11, 2010

WikiLeaks: Pope's offer for Anglicans to convert risked inciting violence against Catholics



From The London Telegraph-

The confidential reports claimed that the British ambassador to the Vatican believed relations with the Holy See as being at "their worst crisis in 150 years".

It followed Pope Benedict XVI's special dispensation to disaffected Anglicans who are against the ordination of women priests to turn to the Catholic faith. He said they could convert in groups while retaining their own leadership and some of their rites in a body called an Ordinariate.

After a meeting between the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in November 2009 British ambassador Francis Campbell told a US diplomat that "Anglican-Vatican relations were facing their worst crisis in 150-years as a result of the pope's decision".

He also described the meeting between the two men as "at times awkward".
The claims were among the latest tranche of cables to be published by whistleblowing site WikiLeaks.

Mr Campbell, a Catholic, made his comments during a conversation with Julieta Valls Noyes, the American deputy chief of mission to the Holy See.

He was speaking to her at a dinner held in the Archbishop's honour attended by senior Vatican officials following his meeting with the Pope.

A cable sent shortly afterwards relayed his remarks.

Mr Campbell also said: "The crisis is worrisome for England's small, mostly Irish-origin, Catholic minority. There is still latent anti-Catholicism in some parts of England and it may not take much to set it off."

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8195605/WikiLeaks-Popes-offer-for-Anglicans-to-convert-risked-inciting-violence-against-Catholics.html

No comments: