WikiLeaks: Catholic church fears over Anglican conversions

The cable, dated 30 Nov 2009, shows the concerns of London’s Vatican ambassador, France Campbell, that there would be an anti-Catholic backlash in the UK over the offer.

Relations between the Catholic and Anglican churches were at their worst for 150 years after Pope Benedict offered to allow Anglicans who were opposed to the ordination of women bishops in the Church of England join the Catholic church.

The offer undercut the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and put the Archbishop “in an impossible situation”.

A second earlier cable, dated 9 Nov, revealed that Campbell had told US ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz, that the Catholic church would face “unforeseen obstacles” if many Anglicans did in fact take up the offer.

It cited him as saying that this transition of Anglican converts could “overwhelm the financial resources of many dioceses.”

According to the Nov. 30 cable, Campbell felt the Vatican had acted without considering what its move would mean for the Church of England, mother church for the world’s 80 million Anglicans, or their spiritual leader Williams.

“The Vatican decision seems to have been aimed primarily at Anglicans in the U.S. and Australia, with little thought given to how it would affect the center of Anglicanism, England, or the Archbishop of Canterbury,” it said in relating his view.

Five Anglican bishops in Britain announced last month that they would join the Catholic Church early next year. However tensions predicted to arise during the Pope’s visit to the UK earlier this year failed to materialise.

Other cables revealed by WikiLeaks claim that:

• Vatican officials were offended by requests from an Irish inquiry into paedophile priests and refused to allow its officials to testify before an Irish commission into the issue.
• The Pope was behind the Vatican’s resistance to Turkey joining the EU.
• And US diplomats believed the Pope was instrumental in freeing the British sailors captured

Today the Vatican said the leaks should be evaluated with ‘reservations’ and ‘prudence.’

Joining us in the studio was Jack Valero – senior figure in the lobby group Catholic Voices, and press officer for the UK division of Opus Dei.

He said that as he soon as he read the story this morning, he realised this couldn’t have been said by the Vatican’s ambassador.

He dismissed Wikileak’s claims regarding the tensions between the Anglican and Catholic churches, saying “some of these leaks come from official meetings, some come from gossip and things you’ve heard at a party.”

He did admit that the communication between the two churches “wasn’t brilliant” but that the Papal visit showed relations were fine.