Pope Leo XIV to receive Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally in Rome next month
Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally prays with Cardial Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, at the site of the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket, after ecumenical morning prayer yesterday.
Neil Turner for Lambeth Palace
Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, was among those who prayed with the newly-enthroned Archbishop Mullally at a small service of morning prayer at Canterbury Cathedral yesterday.
Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop Mullally exchanged warm letters of greeting around her historic enthronement as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury.
Lambeth Palace confirmed that Archbishop Mullally is to visit Rome from 25-28 April and during the visit she will meet Pope Leo at the Vatican.
Besides Cardinal Koch, those present at the ecumenical morning prayer service included Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop Flavio Pace, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and Bishop Anthony Ball, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See. Archbishop of Westminster Richard Moth attended the enthronement where he read from the Bible, but was not at the ecumenical service the following morning.
The service marked the 60th anniversary of the Common Declaration of 24 March 1966, the first formal ecumenical statement between Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches.
Following Morning Prayer, Archbishop Sarah and Cardinal Koch prayed together at the site of the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket in the Cathedral Quire, mirroring Pope St John Paul II and Archbishop Robert Runcie’s visit to the site in 1982.
It took place as the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury exchanged letters on the Archbishop’s installation.
Pope Leo wrote, “With this assurance of God’s abiding presence, I send prayerful greetings to Your Grace on the occasion of your Installation as Archbishop of Canterbury. I know that the office for which you have been chosen is a weighty one, with responsibilities not only in the Diocese of Canterbury, but throughout the Church of England as well as the Anglican Communion as a whole. Moreover, you are commencing these duties at a challenging moment in the history of the Anglican family. In asking the Lord to strengthen you with the gift of wisdom, I pray that you may be guided by the Holy Spirit in serving your communities, and draw inspiration from the example of Mary, the Mother of God.”
He acknowledged that the ecumenical journey had “not always been smooth” and that both their predecessors, Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby, had acknowledged that “new circumstances have presented new disagreements among us”. While not saying explicitly what these new circumstances were, the main and currently insurmountable difficulty to visible unity between the two churches is the ordination of women. The Catholic Church refuses even to countenance the ordination of women deacons though many are pressing for change on this in particular.
Pope Leo continued, “Nevertheless, we have continued to walk together, because differences ‘cannot prevent us from recognising one another as brothers and sisters in Christ by reason of our common baptism’. For my part, I firmly believe that we need to continue to dialogue in truth and love, for it is only in truth and love that we come to know together the grace, mercy and peace of God and thus can offer these precious gifts to the world.”
In response, Archbishop Mullally thanked the Pope for his prayers, and assured him of her own.
“I am deeply grateful for your gracious letter, and for the assurance of your prayers at the time of my installation as Archbishop of Canterbury,” she wrote. “Your words of encouragement, and your invocation of the Holy Spirit’s guidance, are received with profound appreciation.”
She added, “As Archbishop of Canterbury, I too am called to serve as an instrument of communion within the Anglican Communion, and to seek the full and visible unity to which our Lord has called us all.
“I very much look forward to meeting Your Holiness in the near future and to continuing to strengthen the bonds of friendship and our shared commitment.”
Speaking after this service, the Archbishop Mullally said: “Sixty years ago, Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey set before our Churches a vision of reconciliation grounded in charity, truth, and a shared desire for unity in Christ. Their meeting marked a new beginning in Anglican–Roman Catholic relations, one that continues to bear fruit in dialogue, friendship, and common witness across the world. I give thanks for this shared journey, which continues to grow, not least through the recent state visit of His Majesty The King to Pope Leo XIV in Rome.
“Through ongoing dialogue, including the work of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission and the International Anglican–Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission, we continue to seek that unity in Christ, in whom we find both the source and the fulfilment of our communion. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us into all truth, deepen our fellowship, and lead us ever closer to the visible unity for which Christ prayed.”
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