Anglican church Saturday, October 4, not to trade the Christian heritage for openly homosexual clergy.
He said, "new and serious difficulties have arisen" in efforts to unify the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches.
His remarks came after as few as 15 minutes of private talks in the library with Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, a meeting that was apparently kept short amid growing concern about the pontiff’s health.
"As we give thanks for the progress that has already been made we must also recognize that new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity," the slowly speaking pope added following their discussions in front of a small group of reporters.
CONTROVERSIAL DECISION
Several Vatican observers interpreted it as a clear reference to the controversial decision by the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the 77 million-member global Anglican Communion, to elect its first openly gay Bishop.
"These difficulties are not all of a merely disciplinary nature; some extend to essential matters of faith and morals," said the Pope, without mentioning the homosexual issue by name.
He stressed that with increasing secularism in the world, "the Church must ensure that the deposit of faith is proclaimed in its integrity and preserved from erroneous and misguided interpretations."
SHAKING AND "DYING"
Journalists attending the public part of Williams’ first visit to the Vatican since his election in February, said the 83-year old pontiff was alert but shaking, and that most of his words were difficult to understand as spoke after sitting down in his private study.
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the Archbishop of Vienna and reportedly often spoken of as a future Pope, was the first high ranking church official to use the word "dying" in reference to the Pope’s health earlier this week in an interview with Austrian radio.
"The whole world is experiencing a Pope who is sick, handicapped and dying — I don’t know how close to death he is – who is approaching the last days and months of his life," he said.
TRIUMPH OF SPIRIT
Others have described his survival as a triumph of the spirit of a man who was run over twice, shot by a would-be assassin and had a malignant tumor removed.
John Paul II has made clear he wants to continue his mission till his last breath, which the pontiff believes includes warning the church and Christians against what he sees as threats to Christian values.
Williams, well aware of the Vatican position, concentrated on efforts to overcome theological divisions between the churches, reports said. The Anglicans split from Rome in 1534 over the Pope’s refusal to grant King Henry VIII an annulment.
COMMITMENT TO UNITY
"I am glad to reaffirm my commitment to the full, visible unity of the Church of Christ," said Williams who is reported to have scheduled an emergency meeting of the Anglican Communion’s 38 primates to discuss the issue of homosexuality in two weeks.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, in charge of Vatican relations with other Christian denominations, told Vatican Radio earlier that the homosexual issue could have repercussions on ties with the Anglicans.
"…It is not only an internal problem of the Anglican Communion, but it also touches on our relations," Kasper said.
The Vatican received support for its position from an unlikely corner late Friday, October 3, in Budapest where American evangelist David Wilkerson expressed his outrage about the election of an openly homosexual Bishop.
PUBLIC RALLY
"When you see the rise of homosexuality around the world, you begin to think it looks like the devil is getting into victory…" he said, BosNewsLife observed. "But one day God will reclaim His name," Wilkerson added in a sermon at a public rally.
Evangelicals like Wilkerson believe Christ loves homosexuals as human beings, but warn He condemns their behavior and that repentance and healing is the only answer to what they claim the Bible regard as sin.
Williams reportedly tried to play down the tensions over the issue with the Vatican during the public session, which also saw his wife Jane, bending down and kissing the Pope’s ring.
He reportedly noted Williams was wearing a bishop’s ring given by Pope Paul VI to the then-archbishop of Canterbury in 1966.
