Conger

First published in The Living Church.

Discussions of America, ecumenism and theology animated the May 5 meeting of Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was a “friendly and informal meeting in which we discussed a number of ecumenical issues; some of the Pope’s impressions of his American visit; and common issues in Christian-Muslim dialogue,” Archbishop Rowan Williams told The Living Church, as reported by his press secretary Marie Papworth.

Speaking to Vatican Radio before his meeting with the Pope, Archbishop Williams said he hoped to inform the pope about the latest plans for the Lambeth Conference and touch base with him about churches in China, among other concerns. Archbishop Williams acknowledged the Anglican Communion was passing through an “unprecedentedly difficult time, no two ways about that.”

He said, though, that relations with the Roman Catholic Church remained strong, partly through the work of the Anglican Centre, whose directors had laid “deep foundations” of “personal trust and confidence and in terms of ease of access and honesty of discussion, I think we’re in a very good phase.”

On May 7, Archbishop Williams will install the new director of the Anglican Centre in Rome at an ecumenical service at the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica. The Very Rev. David Richardson, the former dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia, will also serve as Archbishop Williams’ representative to the Vatican in Rome.