Anglican Theologian: Pope's UK visit "crucial" for relations between two Churches

According to John Milbank, the trip is "an opportunity" for Benedict XVI to change the wrong impression that the Anglo-Saxon world has of him. Consensus between Catholics and Anglicans is "deeper than their differences".
Monday, August 02, 2010
By Asia News

London – Benedict XVI’s visit next September to the UK is of “crucial” importance. It is a chance to revitalize his image in the eyes of the British press, after the media storm involving the Pope has in recent months (in reality since the beginning of his pontificate), but also to bring together two cultures and two confessions - Catholic and Anglican - often in conflict. This is the view point of John Milbank, Anglican theologian and professor of Religion, Politics and Ethics, at the University of Nottingham, interviewed by AsiaNews ahead of the next papal trip:

What does Benedict XVI’s visit mean for the UK and the Church of England?

The visit is of crucial importance because Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular are under increasing attack in the United Kingdom. One would have thought that ‘anti Popery’ was dead and yet it has recently revived. At the same time Catholics play a very important role in British cultural and political life. They and all other Christians in this country need the encouragement that the Pope can give them. In addition I believe that this visit is a chance for Pope Benedict to correct the mistaken impressions of him that are often given in the British media. He can show that he is a person of great all-round vision whose thinking about society, economics and human relationships is often far more insightful than that of the general run of secular culture. the rest