The Vatican has decided that there is more to be lost than to be gained by moving now to create a safe-haven within the Catholic Church for Anglo-Catholics who feel they can no longer remain part of the Anglican Communion but who wish to remain within distinctive forms of Anglican worship and theology.
George Conger, reporting on an article signaling this decision writes:
“In an October article entitled Catholic Anglican Relations after the Lambeth Conference (La Relazione tra Cattolici e Anglicani dopo la Conferenza di Lambeth) the semi-official Jesuit bi-weekly stated the ‘corporate unity’ under discussion between the Vatican and traditionalist Anglicans ‘will not be a form of uniatism as this is unsuitable for uniting two realities which are too similar from a cultural point of view as indeed are Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics.’
‘The Holy See, while sympathetic to the demands of these Anglo-Catholics’ for corporate reunion, ‘is moving with discretion and prudence.’ Opposition to the ordination of women to the ordained ministry and to gay bishops and blessings ‘is not enough,’ the newspaper said. Anglo-Catholics should be motived not by a rejection of Anglicanism but by the ‘desire to join fully the Catholic Church,’ Fr. Paul Gamberini SJ wrote.”
The immediate effect of this decision would be to deny the request by the bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) to be granted full communion with Rome.
The reasoning behind the decision is the comment by Pope Benedict that he preferred “schisms and new breaks can be avoided, and that a responsible solution will be found” to the situation in Anglicanism today.
Read Conger’s full article here.