The Fraternal Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Archbishop Rowan Williams

17 September 2010 • Persistent link: iarccum.org/?p=973

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will today visit His Grace Archbishop Rowan Williams at the Archbishop’s London home, Lambeth Palace.

Together they will address a meeting of Anglican and Roman Catholic Diocesan Bishops from England, Scotland and Wales in the Great Hall of the Archbishop’s Library.

Recalling fifty years of significant meetings between successive popes and archbishops of Canterbury, Archbishop Williams will welcome Pope Benedict to Lambeth Palace before leading the bishops in an opening prayer.

In his address to the bishops (full text below), Dr Williams will stress the wider spiritual and missionary context in which ecumenical dialogue and growth in unity must take place. He will speak of the historic visit as “a special time of grace and of growth in our shared calling”, and express the hope that the occasion will be recognised as having “significance both to the Church of Christ and to British society”.

On the topic of the common duty of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops to engage in mission to our society, he will say, “Our presence together as British bishops here today is a sign of the way in which, in this country, we see our task as one and indivisible. Our fervent prayer is that this visit will give us fresh energy and vision for working together.”

“Today, this involves a readiness to respond to the various trends in our cultural environment that seek to present Christian faith as both an obstacle to human freedom and a scandal to human intellect. We need to be clear that the Gospel of the new creation in Jesus Christ is the door through which we enter into true liberty and true understanding.”

“Perhaps we shall not quickly overcome the remaining obstacles to full, restored communion; but no obstacles stand in the way of our seeking, as a matter of joyful obedience to the Lord, more ways in which to build up one another in holiness by prayer and public celebration together, by closer friendship, and by growing together both in the challenging work of service for all whom Christ loves, and mission to all God has made.

Following an address by Pope Benedict, the Archbishop and the Pope will exchange gifts. The Archbishop will give the Pope a leather-bound diptych of facsimiles of full-page illuminations from the twelfth-century Lambeth Bible (details below and photograph available on request).

The meeting will end with Pope Benedict leading the bishops in the Lord’s Prayer and a concluding prayer.

The Archbishop and Mrs Jane Williams will then welcome Pope Benedict into their home, where the Archbishop and the Pope will spend half an hour in private discussion before viewing a small selection of the treasures from the Lambeth Palace Library (details below).

This is the first time in history that a pope will visit Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s official London residence, Pope John Paul II having visited Archbishop Robert Runcie in Canterbury in 1982.