Anglican Leader Unhappy With Vatican Statement

VATICAN, Sept. 5 (CWNews.com) - The worldwide head of the Church of England sharply criticized the Roman Catholic Church for suggesting that the Anglican communion is not the one true Church.

Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was reacting to the publication of Dominus Jesus, a new document which reaffirms that role of the Catholic Church in the economy of salvation. Archbishop Carey was particularly offending by the statement, found in the new Vatican document, that: «Ecclesial communities that have not preserved the valid episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery are not churches in the proper sense.»

This statement, the Anglican archbishop said, fails to represent «the deeper understanding that has been achieved through ecumenical dialogue and cooperation during the past 30 years.» He added that the Anglican Church «believes itself to be part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ.»

The Vatican document Dominus Jesus was issued precisely in order to counteract the increasingly popular argument that ecumenical dialogue can change essential doctrinal truths.

Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update