Holy See Hoping That Anglicans Avoid Split

The Holy See, hoping that the Anglican Communion can avoid an internal schism, signaled its own desire to be able to continue on the path toward Christian unity.

So said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, at a meeting Tuesday with journalists in the Vatican press office.

Some archbishops of the Anglican Communion refuse to recognize Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the U.S. member of the Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church sparked a crisis in the Anglican Communion in 2003 when it chose Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as bishop, the first ordained prelate to declare himself a practicing homosexual.

On Tuesday, a journalist asked if the Vatican follows closely the Episcopalians in the United States who are protesting against these decisions of their church.

Cardinal Kasper responded that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity maintains relations with the Anglican Communion as a whole, not with its various member churches. The Episcopal Church is not a direct partner of the pontifical council; its partner of reference is the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference. Read more