Anglicans Urged to Weigh Papal Primacy

Archbishop of Canterbury Robert A.K. Runcie appealed to Anglicans on Saturday to consider accepting papal primacy in a reunified church, but Pope John Paul II stressed that his office must be more than just that of a figurehead.

The two men made some of their most direct statements on papal primacy at a joint Vespers service in Rome’s Church of St. Gregory on the second day of Runcie’s first official visit to the Vatican.

They also spoke of the thorny issue of Anglican women priests. The Pope said the problem had “seriously aggravated” differences, and Runcie suggested some Anglican national churches had gone too far on the issue.

Key Issue of Visit

Papal primacy has become the key issue of the trip because of a controversial magazine interview in which the leader of the world’s 70 million Anglicans said he is willing to accept some form of papal authority in a reunified Church.

In his address Saturday, Runcie said: “Could not all Christians come to reconsider the kind of primacy the Bishop of Rome exercised within the early church, a presiding in love for the sake of the unity of the churches in the diversity of their mission?”

England split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 over King Henry VIII’s refusal to accept papal authority.

The Pope however said the office of the papacy could not be merely symbolic.

“Today the divisions among Christians require that the primacy of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) should also be a primacy in action and initiative in favor of that unity for which Christ so earnestly prayed,” he said in his homily.

The choice of the Church of St. Gregory the Great for the Vespers was significant because it was from there that the 6th-Century pope sent monks to evangelize England.

Before the visit, Runcie told the Catholic magazine Il Regno that more Anglicans are accepting the idea of papal primacy and that he would accept some kind of papal authority “linked to a renewed ecumenical and universal primacy.”

A Northern Ireland Protestant leader, the Rev. Ian Paisley, protested outside Runcie’s Rome residence Saturday. He condemned Runcie’s visit and papal primacy as “monstrous and blasphemous.”

“This visit of the archbishop is an act of betrayal. He is engaged in an act of treason . . . a lawless action because if he succeeds the Queen is dethroned,” Paisley told reporters.

Runcie and Paisley did not speak but stared at each other as the archbishop got into his limousine to drive to the Vatican for lunch with the Pope.

Aides said Runcie was not suggesting direct papal authority over the Church of England but a role for the Pope as a universal Christian figurehead who would appoint bishops only in the Roman Catholic Church.

But in his talk, the Pope appeared to say that the papacy would have to keep a good measure of authority and that the specific role of bishops had to be “exercised in communion with the See of Peter (the Vatican) in ensuring the unity and continuity of the faith.”

In a separate address to the Pope Saturday morning, Runcie compared the Anglican and Catholic churches to an engaged couple who lacked the courage to get married.

Touch on Ordination Issue

At the Vespers service both spoke of the ordination of women, which has caused deep divisions in the Anglican communion. Catholics, who ban women priests, say it is the most serious problem hampering dialogue on reunification.

Runcie said he fully understood why the Roman Catholic Church is worried about the ordination of women priests and shocked by the ordination of Barbara Harris last year in the United States as the first woman Anglican bishop.

A Runcie aide said the first two meetings between the Pope and the Anglican leader were marked by “heart to heart” talks on problems in relations between the two faiths.