ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S OFFICIAL VISIT TO THE POPE

VATICAN CITY, NOV 21, 2006 (VIS) - The primate of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, England, will make an official visit to the Pope from November 21 to 26, according to a communique released by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

  Archbishop Williams, who will be accompanied by his wife and son, will head an eight-strong delegation. The visit is taking place 40 years after the meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey - from March 22 to 24, 1966 - and aims "to express the importance the Anglican Communion attributes to relations with the Catholic Church and to the theological dialogue that began with the creation, announced during Paul VI's meeting with Archbishop Ramsey, of the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC)."

  The central moment of the Archbishop of Canterbury's visit will be his private meeting with the Holy Father on Thursday November 23. After that meeting, the Pope and the archbishop will each deliver an address, and a joint declaration will be signed in the presence of the members of the Anglican delegation and of the Catholic representatives who accompanied the archbishop to Rome, headed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, archbishop of Westminster.

  After the audience, Benedict XVI and Archbishop Williams, will go to the Vatican's "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel where they will pray together.

  On November 22, the Anglican archbishop and Cardinal Walter Kasper, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will visit the Sistine Chapel where they will pray together and recollect the meeting there 40 years earlier between Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey.

  On November 24, the Roman church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva will be the setting for an ecumenical celebration of Vespers.

  During the course of the visit, Archbishop Williams and Cardinal Kasper will examine the current state of Catholic-Anglican relations, the planning and content of a new cycle of dialogue in the ARCIC following its most recent publication "Mary, Grace and Hope in Christ" in May 2005, the work of the International Anglican - Roman Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) established in 2000, and the ecumenical situation in general."

  The visit will also serve as an opportunity to continue the informal talks, an annual initiative for the giving and receiving of information, coordination of initiatives, and dialogue and exchange.

  The archbishop's visit also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the foundation of Rome's Anglican Center, which undertakes various initiatives to favor reciprocal understanding among Catholics and Anglicans. The current director of the Anglican Center is Bishop John Flack, representative of the Anglican communion to the Holy See.

  On the afternoon of Sunday, November 26, prior to his departure, Archbishop Williams will preside at an Anglican liturgy in the Basilica of Santa Sabina on Rome's Aventine Hill.
OP/ARCHBISHOP CANTERBURY VISIT/WILLIAMS            VIS 20061121 (480)