Vatican surprises everyone

The one of Rome’s most sweeping gestures to a Protestant church since the Reformation, the Vatican announced a new open door policy toward Anglicans.

“The Vatican launched an historic initiative Tuesday to make it easier for disgruntled Anglicans worldwide to join the Roman Catholic Church. The church said the move was not a swipe at the Anglicans but it could nevertheless result in hundreds of thousands of churchgoers unhappy with openly gay and female clerics defecting to Rome.

“Pope Benedict XVI gave his approval to a new framework to bring back into the fold Anglicans who oppose their church’s liberal stance on gay marriage and the ordination of women priests and gay bishops while allowing them to retain some of their separate religious traditions…

“The pope was responding to “numerous requests to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in various parts of the world who want to enter into full and visible communion” with the Catholic Church, Cardinal William Joseph Levada told a news conference.”

Phil Lawler has some in-depth analysis. Including the way the Vatican pre-empted the media.

“Oddly, today’s Vatican press conference announced the new apostolic constitution, but the Vatican officials who briefed reporters spoke about the document in the future tense. Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, discussed the impact of the “forthcoming” apostolic constitution. The document is not yet ready for publication; the Vatican did not even announce its name.

“Ordinarily, the press conference would be convened only after the document was prepared, and the high Vatican officials would unveil the document at the same time that they explained its impact. In this case, apparently, the Vatican wanted to explain the document even before it appeared– probably in order to prevent the sort of premature leaks that could give rise to misunderstandings and inaccuracies about the nature of the papal initiative.

“In other words the Holy See rushed to explain this apostolic constitution before misunderstandings could arise. In a rare and welcome display of media savvy, the Vatican seized control of the story, giving its own explanation before the confusion set in.”