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It's hard to imagine the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, throwing a Peter Mandelson-style hissy fit.
He's too amiable, too, well, Anglican. But he must have felt put out at the news that Pope Benedict is to make it possible for entire Anglican communities to defect to the Catholic church.
It's always been possible for individual Anglicans to become Catholics, and lots of clergy did so after the ordination of women priests, but now you could get whole parishes, along with their clergy, leaving the CofE for Rome with the possibility of running their own little show - Evensong, own seminaries, vicars' wives - within the Catholic church.
Such is the heroic charity of Rowan Williams that he actually held a press conference with the head of the Catholic church in England, Vincent Nichols, to say that he didn't mind a bit. At least, not very much.
So now we in the Catholic church must wait for the exodus. But I can't quite believe those who are predicting that as many as 400,000 Anglicans will cross the Tiber if they are allowed to operate as a church within a church (technically, they'd have something called a Personal Ordinariate).
Perhaps a few dozen parishes will do so, quite a number of them in London. It's not exactly going to be rolling back the Reformation.
Still, these are exciting times. If there were a fantasy league church, I'd say a combination of the liturgy of the Church of England plus the doctrinal rigour and orders of the Catholic church would be pretty close to ideal.
Naturally, some Anglicans, particularly those in favour of women bishops, have taken issue with what looks like the Pope poaching entire parishes.
But I think the Pope's overture has this benefit: it makes for greater honesty in relations between the churches.
Instead of an ecumenical dialogue that never actually goes anywhere, this move makes it easier, less lonely, for Anglicans to become Roman Catholics.
They'll keep their own way of doing things but within the Catholic fold. I'd say it'll enrich the Catholic church by bringing a distinctive Anglican mindset into it, and making it, if you like, a bit more English.
Certainly, the advent of hundreds of Anglican clergy - with their wives - after the Church of England decided to ordain women priests benefited the Catholic church incalculably.
And if the move annoys liberal Catholics -who lobby for our own church to have women priests and married clergy - well, too bad. Come to that, it'll be fun to see how Catholic bishops come to terms with communities of bolshie ex-Anglicans in their dioceses.
But there is a downside to the Pope's plan. It is not that it pits the churches against each other - Anglicans and Catholics will still be on the same team. It's that it could undermine further what's left of a cohesive Anglican church.
Christianity isn't a zero-sum game. You don't have to be an Anglican to acknowledge that the Church of England is a sane, unifying element in English life, an embodiment of Christian values.
As such, it's the focus of an untold amount of socially useful work in local communities, from the Mothers' Union to prison visitors.
If the Church of England tears itself apart over women bishops, it would be a loss all round.
Reader views (3)
The reason some Anglicans may be tempted to leave the Church of England for Rome is simply because they object to the idea that a woman can be a Bishop, and also possibly because the Anglican Church has already ordained women and is also attempting to develop a modern realistic attitude towards homosexuality. This does not mean Rome was right all along. They are arch-conservatives who do not accept that perspectives can legitimately change. A reformed church, which 500 years ago adopted the ideas of the Reformation in response to renewed study of the bible and advances in human knowledge can continue to change, as Thomas Cranmer specifically envisaged, and the majority of Anglicans know that. Melanie McDonagh's triumphalist tone is deeply depressing. Rejoicing in striking a blow against the Reformation of 500 years ago because of the current objection of a few to women and gays is very sad and does not advance Christianity at a time when a progressive and rational faith is needed more than ever in the face of growing fundamentalism on every side.
- Paul Savage, Guildford UK, 26/10/2009 12:03
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Not being a member of either church, it's interesting to watch this ecclesiastical version of Pearl Harbor: Midway will take the form of those Catholic clergy (and laity) shipping out the other way. Having doggedly and devotedly accepted the privations of celibacy because their faith dictated it, they are now in the position of being told that only new account holders will get the bonus interest rate, to coin a metaphor, ie, the old rules only apply to the old mugs who signed up for it, and principle means nothing when tactical advantage comes into play.
Your glee at the discomfiture of liberal Catholics is unpleasant, and it's a big mistake to think that they simply have to sit back and take it. They owe no loyalty to an authority that has abandoned its own positions of principle. Do these incomers suddenly believe in Transubstantiation? Have they been lying about their recognition of the Queen as Supreme Governor all these years? Or they just dislike queers and women (Always a very interesting combination of bigotries)?
For some reason the saying comes to mind, 'If there were no Hell, Heaven would be full of rogues.'
- Mdj E10, london uk, 26/10/2009 00:14
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First let us look what happend. Anglicans knocked at the Pope`s door and he opend it to the best conditions. They themselves didn´t dream about it, so good they are. You are right when you say that these are exciting times. Noboddy knows what happens next, but it shows something else which no one seems to see : For B16 untiy stands over celebacy. Celebecy is not fix. He wouldn´t change it for catholics know, but all things are dynamic and this Pope things in long terms not in short. He gave his church more diversity in litugry, even here he is not fixed. The only point when he critisized liturgies, is when people make more show than real honour to God. B16 is like a nutcracker. Before him the oecomenical ship slides slowly through the waves. He cracked the nut and opens the problems which lies under it, this has nothing to do with devision, it has somthing to do with saying the truth of unsaying things in the past. This makes logically big waves and sometimes stormy wether. But it shows, where peole really stand for and noboddy couldn´t hide any more after their maskes. Last but not least this Pope understands himself as a servant, not as a man of power. But here is a big problem, all the other cahtolic bishops in this world lover there own power on people, this is one of the biggest hints for unity (think at the orthodox churches). This pope wants no power for himself, only for god. That is the difference. Let us look positiv in the future and god gives us a long breeth.
- Petra Thiel, Bad Pyrmont Germany, 23/10/2009 12:00
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