Pope urges Anglicans to "avoid schism"

Bess Twiston Davies
Times Online
July 16, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI has urged hundreds of Anglican bishops attending the Lambeth Conference to find a “mature” way to avoid “schism.”

Nearly a quarter of the Anglican Bishops worldwide – 230 out of the 880 in the Anglican Communion – have shunned the once-a-decade gathering which began today, over disagreements about the Church’s stance on homosexual clergy.

In a message to Dr Rowan Williams, sent from Australia where Benedict XVI is attending World Youth Day, the Pope said: "The words and the message of Christ are what offer the real contribution to Lambeth and only in being faithful to the message ... and God's words can we find a mature way ... to find a road together.”

His words have been interpreted in some quarters as indicating that Pope Benedict will not welcome Anglican traditionalists at odds with the Church of England over women bishops and homosexual clergy into the Catholic Church. Last week, following the General Synod's vote to ordain women bishops, a leading Anglican traditionalist, Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet said he would consider defecting to the Roman Catholic Church. the rest