ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
ON THE OCCASION OF THE
VISIT OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Monday, 27 April 2026
________________________
Your Grace,
Peace be with you!
In the joy of this Paschal season, as we continue to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead, I am pleased to welcome you and your Delegation to the Vatican.
Your visit brings to mind the memorable encounter between Saint Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey sixty years ago, the anniversary of which you marked with Cardinal Koch in Canterbury Cathedral on the morning after your installation. Since then, Archbishops of Canterbury and Bishops of Rome have continued to meet and pray together, and I am glad that we are continuing this tradition today. I am likewise grateful for the ministry of the Anglican Centre in Rome, also established sixty years ago, and I greet in a special way the Centre’s Director, Bishop Anthony Ball, whom you will commission this evening as your Representative to the Holy See.
Throughout these days of Eastertide, the first words spoken by the risen Christ resound throughout the Church: “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19). This greeting invites us not only to accept the Lord’s gift of peace, but also to be messengers of his peace. I have often mentioned that the peace of the risen Jesus is “unarmed.” This is because he always responded to violence and aggression in an unarmed way, inviting us to do likewise. Moreover, I believe that Christians must bear prophetic and humble witness to this profound reality together (cf. Message for the LIX World Day of Peace, 1 January 2026).
While our suffering world greatly needs the peace of Christ, the divisions among Christians weakens our capacity to be effective bearers of that peace. If the world is to take our preaching to heart, we must, therefore, be constant in our prayers and efforts to remove any stumbling blocks that hinder the proclamation of the Gospel. This focus on the need for unity for the sake of a more fruitful evangelization has been a theme throughout my own ministry; indeed it is reflected in the motto I chose when I became a bishop: In Illo uno unum, “In the One — that is Christ — we are one” (Saint Augustine, Enarr. in Ps., 127, 3).
In this regard, when Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Saint Paul VI announced the first theological dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics, they spoke of seeking the “restoration of complete communion in faith and sacramental life” (Common Declaration, 24 March 1966). Certainly this ecumenical journey has been complex. While much progress has been made on some historically divisive issues, new problems have arisen in recent decades, rendering the pathway to full communion more difficult to discern. I know that the Anglican Communion is also facing many of these same questions at this time. Nevertheless, we must not allow these continuing challenges to prevent us from using every possible opportunity to proclaim Christ to the world together. As my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, said to the Primates of the Anglican Communion in 2024, “it would be a scandal if, due to our divisions, we did not fulfil our common vocation to make Christ known” (Address to Primates of the Anglican Communion, 2 May 2024). For my part, I add that it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear.
As we continue to journey together in friendship and dialogue, then, let us pray that the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord breathed on the disciples on the evening after his resurrection, will guide our steps as we prayerfully and humbly seek the unity which is the Lord’s will for all his disciples.
Your Grace, in thanking you for your visit today, I pray that the same Holy Spirit will remain with you always, making you fruitful in the service to which you have been called.
May God bless you and your family.
10 comments:
It is a given that holy Pope Leo XIV would receive from various folks a verbal beating for his having received the Archbishop of Canterbury...the female Archbishop of Canterbury.
In regard to Pope Leo XIV's reception today of said Archbishop:
Rorate Caeli characterized Pope Leo XIV's address today as dishonest.
Rorate Caeli: "Frankness and truth have been found wanting in Catholic statements to Anglicans ever since female "ordination" was approved."
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Diane Montagna: "JUST IN: Vatican releases photos of Pope Leo XIV’s meeting today with Sarah Mullally.
"Of course, chief among these new problems is the fact that a woman dressed in liturgical attire is now being passed off — and celebrated by the Vatican and even by the Pope — as someone who seemingly has valid Orders when she doesn’t — first because she’s a woman and second because she’s an Anglican.
"So much so that, during her visit to St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, a Vatican official (Archbishop Flavio Pace, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity) bowed before her in the Clementine Chapel — one of the most sacred places in the Vatican grottoes, located just next to the tomb of St. Peter — and made the Sign of the Cross as though receiving a real blessing from her.
"Absolutely absurd."
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Nevertheless, Pope Leo XIV made clear today his unrelenting commitment to the Ecumenical Movement. Therefore, future verbal bashings are in store for His Holiness.
Pope Leo XIV today:
"As my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, said to the Primates of the Anglican Communion in 2024, “it would be a scandal if, due to our divisions, we did not fulfil our common vocation to make Christ known” (Address to Primates of the Anglican Communion, 2 May 2024).
"For my part, I add that it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I liked your headline re Hyacinth. What a great sitcom, Keeping up appearances. Her Grace reminds me of Mrs. Robinson, from the Beatles, I think.
Weird, I thought bishops were supposed to have one wife. Where does that leave "bishop" Mullaly?
Nick
There was a time when our Popes practiced ecumenism as follows:
Pope Saint John XXIII, first Encyclical, 1959 A.D:
"We address Ourselves now to all of you who are separated from this Apostolic See.
"May this wonderful Spectacle of unity, by which the Catholic Church is set apart and distinguished, as well as the prayers and entreaties with which she begs God for unity, stir your hearts and awaken you to what is really in your best interest.
"May We, in fond anticipation, address you as sons and brethren? May We hope with a father's love for your return?
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In regard to the practice of ecumenism:
Imagine such charitable but clear, unmistakable speech from a Pope?
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Yes, we are indeed "keepin up appearances"--the appearance of foolishly tolerating everything except our own Tradition. Here's to the feminized, weak, flabby, Vatican II managed-decline kumbayachurch! The Church whose authority roars with indignation when anyone dares to love the Traditional Mass. All else is permitted!
Words fail me when reflecting on this encounter and its necessity. As a defender of orthodoxy, there seems to be no discernible gain that's apparent here.
After centuries of condemning each other to the fires of hell, the "discernible gain" may be that that practice has rightly come to an end.
The "discernible gain" might be that we have gotten beyond blind hatred to see that there are shared values that can, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, be the foundation for unity.
The "discernible value" might be obedience to the words of the Savior, "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." John 17:20-21.
U recommend St. John Paul II's masterful work on the "discernible value" of ecumenical relationships: Ut Unum Sint - On Commitment to Ecumenism.
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint.html
I think we're past spiritual economy by almost 70 years. They're leading their people astray in ways that are beyond reconciliation, no matter how hard we pound that round peg.
Ecumenism, if someone insists upon being a practitioner, should be approached with care else the risk of heresy greatly increases.
We're not going to agree here. Our vantage points are too divergent. I don't wish to insult you, your intelligence, or experience. Simply stated, the Eastern view won't align with the West.
Father Kavanaugh has presented the Church's view/Pope Leo XIV's view as to the "discernible gain" associated with such ecumenical practices as yesterday's Papal interaction with Archbishop Mullally.
Pope Leo XIV had made clear the following yesterday:
"For my part, I add that it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear."
For better or worse, long gone are the days when a Pope practiced charitable but unmistakable "ecumenism of return." Example: Pope Saint John XXIII:
"We address Ourselves now to all of you who are separated from this Apostolic See. May We hope with a father's love for your return?"
Charitable, yet to the point.
Today, however, as Rorate Caeli has noted:
"One of the hallmarks of the post-Vatican II “Conciliar Period” has been the obsession of popes in welcoming the leaders of Anglican churches as equals.
"It would be remiss to exclusively blame Leo XIV in that regard."
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In fairness to Pope Leo XIV, did he treat the Archbishop Mullally as his "equal"?
Anyway, Pope Leo XVI, in line with current teaching related to the ecumenism, determined that his interaction with Archbishop Mullally involved "discernible gain."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Simon and Garfunkel
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