POPE WELCOMES ANGLICAN-ROMAN CATHOLIC WORKING GROUP

VATICAN CITY, NOV 24, 2001 (VIS) - Pope John Paul this morning welcomed members of the new Anglican-Roman Catholic Working Group, who are in Rome for their inaugural meeting. He told the bishops, who had met in London with Archbishop Carey of Canterbury, that "We cannot but praise the God of all mercies for the many genuine advances of ecumenism."

Reviewing the history of Anglican-Catholic dialogue, he recalled the 1966 meeting between Paul VI and Archbishop Ramsey that led to the first Anglican and Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). He spoke of his own visit in 1982 to Canterbury when he and Archbishop Runcie established the second ARCIC, and of the 1996 meeting between himself and Archbishop Carey when they issued a Common Declaration. "That Declaration," he stated, "foreshadowed last year's International Meeting of Anglican and Catholic Bishops in Mississauga, Canada, were it was decided to establish the new Working Group."

The Pope told the bishops they "are especially well qualified to consider the next practical steps which might be taken not only to consolidate the gains already made but also to lead us to new depths of communion on the way to that fullness of unity which is the will of Christ. ... It is clear that disunity has impaired our mission in the world. In these troubled times, the world needs more than ever the common witness of Christians in every area, from the defense of human life and dignity to the promotion of justice and peace."

"When discouragement threatens or new difficulties arise," he declared, "we need to focus once more upon the Spirit's power to do what seems to us impossible. At times of apparent pause we must wait for the Holy Spirit to do what we ourselves cannot do."

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