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LAMBETH-OPEN Jul-21-2008 (330 words) With photos posted July 16, 18 and 21. xxxi
Pope assures Anglicans he is praying for Lambeth Conference
By Catholic News Service
CANTERBURY, England (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has assured Anglicans meeting for their once-a-decade worldwide conference that he and other Catholics are praying for them.
In a message to Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, said the pope was "mindful that a primary objective" of the meeting was "the spiritual renewal that comes from prayer and contemplation."
The letter noted the internal divisions that trouble the Anglican Communion and said some of those issues "pose a further and grave challenge to the hope for full and visible unity that has been the long-standing goal of our joint ecumenical endeavor."
The letter, dated June 27, was released in Canterbury July 21, as the conference started its regular working sessions, which run through Aug. 3. Bishops must consider the ordination of openly gay clerics, the blessing of gay unions and the ordination of women bishops in some Anglican provinces.
A quarter of the world's Anglican bishops, angered by the ordination of openly gay U.S. Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, have boycotted the Lambeth Conference. Some of those bishops met in Jerusalem in June and called for the creation of a separate bishops' council to address what they feel is lack of action to protect traditional biblical Anglicanism.
Archbishop Williams did not invite Bishop Robinson as an official delegate, but the American flew to Canterbury and was seen in various booths at the conference.
In his message, Cardinal Bertone said Pope Benedict was pleased that a Catholic delegation led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, would be at Lambeth.
"It is a sign of the fact that we are indeed pilgrims together toward the goal of unity that the Lord desires for his disciples," the message said.
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Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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