JOHN PAUL II THANKS ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY FOR VISIT

VATICAN CITY, JUN 21, 2002 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican John Paul II received the archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, whom he thanked for the farewell visit prior to the archbishop's forthcoming retirement.

"Your visit is, as it were," said the Holy Father, "a living sign of the close relations which have continued to develop down the years between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church."

Looking back on his eleven years as archbishop of Canterbury, the Pope remembered specially the Common Declaration which they signed in 1996. "While acknowledging obstacles which keep us from full communion, we determined 'to consult further about how the relationship between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church is to progress.'"

"In recent months," he continued, "we have begun to see the fruits of this spirit of perseverance through the formation of the new International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, to accompany the continuing work of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission."

"I gladly repeat what I wrote in my Encyclical 'Ut Unum Sint', that 'truly the Lord has taken us by the hand and is guiding us.' With the hope that is born of the Spirit, let us trust that the initiatives and instruments of reconciliation we have fostered and encouraged will be guided always by the same Holy Spirit, who is ever capable of bringing forth blessing upon blessing."

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