COMMUNIQUE FROM COUNCIL FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN UNITY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 8, 2002 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a communique, made public this morning by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity following the news of the upcoming retirement of Archbishop George Carey of Canterbury, England, primate of the Anglican Communion.

"With the formal announcement that Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey will retire later this year, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity remembers with gratitude his commitment to fostering and deepening Anglican-Roman Catholic relations. Archbishop Carey visited the Holy Father on several occasions over his ten years as Archbishop of Canterbury, indeed more than any of his predecessors. The image of him kneeling with an Orthodox leader alongside the Holy Father as they together opened the Holy Door at St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls to begin the Jubilee Year is firmly planted in our memories. We know he has a very full schedule ahead of him prior to his retirement, but would like at this time to express our profound thanks for the many blessings of his years of leadership as Archbishop of Canterbury."

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