B16 Rides in to the Rescue!

The UK’s Independent newspaper has this article which is also featured in the Daily Telegraph. Both articles give the ridiculous impression that Pope Benedict is one hundred percent behind Rowan Williams and is actually shunning any converts to Catholicism. From their tone you would think B16 had abandoned World Youth Day and chartered a jet to fly direct to Canterbury to solve the Anglican crisis himself.

All this is based on a letter from the Vatican to the Anglican bishops assembling for the Lambeth Conference. Apparently the letter asks them to avoid schism and to seek a mature way forward. A letter from the Pope always appears on the table at Lambeth. It’s always phrased in a diplomatic, cordial and respectful way. That’s what Popes do. That’s what diplomats do.

Fr Jeffrey Steel quotes Damian Thompson and so gives the Anglo Catholic take on the whole thing. He and Damian expose it for the shallow media spin that it is. The speculation continues that the Vatican is working on a positive response to the appeal from the Traditional Anglican Communion, and is devising a blueprint for group receptions of Anglicans worldwide.