Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby sign Common
Declaration
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Wednesday presided at the
celebration of Vespers in the Rome church of St Gregory on the Caelian Hill to
mark the 50th anniversary of Anglican-Catholic relations.
During the liturgy the two
leaders signed a common declaration and sent out on mission together 19 pairs
of Anglican and Catholic bishops from countries around the world.
Please find below the text
of the Common Declaration of Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury
Justin Welby
Fifty years ago our
predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey met in this city
hallowed by the ministry and blood of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
Subsequently, Pope John Paul II with Archbishop Robert Runcie, and later with
Archbishop George Carey, and Pope Benedict XVI with Archbishop Rowan Williams,
prayed together here in this Church of Saint Gregory on the Caelian Hill from
where Pope Gregory sent Augustine to evangelise the Anglo-Saxon people. On
pilgrimage to the tombs of these apostles and holy forebears, Catholics and
Anglicans recognize that we are heirs of the treasure of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and the call to share that treasure with the whole world. We have received
the Good News of Jesus Christ through the holy lives of men and women who
preached the Gospel in word and deed and we have been commissioned, and
empowered by the Holy Spirit, to be Christ’s witnesses “to the ends of the
earth” (Acts 1: 8). We are united in the conviction that “the ends of the
earth” today, is not only a geographical term, but a summons to take the saving
message of the Gospel particularly to those on the margins and the peripheries
of our societies.
In their historic meeting in
1966, Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Ramsey established the Anglican-Roman
Catholic International Commission to pursue a serious theological dialogue
which, “founded on the Gospels and on the ancient common traditions, may lead
to that unity in truth, for which Christ prayed”. Fifty years later we give
thanks for the achievements of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International
Commission, which has examined historically divisive doctrines from a fresh
perspective of mutual respect and charity. Today we give thanks in particular
for the documents of ARCIC II which will be appraised by us, and we await the
findings of ARCIC III as it navigates new contexts and new challenges to our
unity.
Fifty years ago our
predecessors recognized the “serious obstacles” that stood in the way of a
restoration of complete faith and sacramental life between us. Nevertheless,
they set out undeterred, not knowing what steps could be taken along the way,
but in fidelity to the Lord’s prayer that his disciples be one. Much progress
has been made concerning many areas that have kept us apart. Yet new
circumstances have presented new disagreements among us, particularly regarding
the ordination of women and more recent questions regarding human sexuality.
Behind these differences lies a perennial question about how authority is
exercised in the Christian community. These are today some of the concerns that
constitute serious obstacles to our full unity. While, like our predecessors,
we ourselves do not yet see solutions to the obstacles before us, we are
undeterred. In our trust and joy in the Holy Spirit we are confident that
dialogue and engagement with one another will deepen our understanding and help
us to discern the mind of Christ for his Church. We trust in God’s grace and
providence, knowing that the Holy Spirit will open new doors and lead us into
all truth (cf. John 16: 13).
These differences we have
named cannot prevent us from recognizing one another as brothers and sisters in
Christ by reason of our common baptism. Nor should they ever hold us back from
discovering and rejoicing in the deep Christian faith and holiness we find
within each other’s traditions. These differences must not lead to a lessening
of our ecumenical endeavours. Christ’s prayer at the Last Supper that all might
be one (cf. John 17: 20-23) is as imperative for his disciples today as it was
at that moment of his impending passion, death and resurrection, and consequent
birth of his Church. Nor should our differences come in the way of our common
prayer: not only can we pray together, we must pray together, giving voice to
our shared faith and joy in the Gospel of Christ, the ancient Creeds, and the
power of God’s love, made present in the Holy Spirit, to overcome all sin and
division. And so, with our predecessors, we urge our clergy and faithful not to
neglect or undervalue that certain yet imperfect communion that we already
share.
Wider and deeper than our
differences are the faith that we share and our common joy in the Gospel.
Christ prayed that his disciples may all be one, "so that the world might
believe" (John 17: 21). The longing for unity that we express in this
Common Declaration is closely tied to the desire we share that men and women
come to believe that God sent his Son, Jesus, into the world to save the world
from the evil that oppresses and diminishes the entire creation. Jesus gave his
life in love, and rising from the dead overcame even death itself. Christians
who have come to this faith, have encountered Jesus and the victory of his love
in their own lives, and are impelled to share the joy of this Good News with
others. Our ability to come together in praise and prayer to God and witness to
the world rests on the confidence that we share a common faith and a
substantial measure of agreement in faith.
The world must see us
witnessing to this common faith in Jesus by acting together. We can, and must,
work together to protect and preserve our common home: living, teaching and
acting in ways that favour a speedy end to the environmental destruction that offends
the Creator and degrades his creatures, and building individual and collective
patterns of behaviour that foster a sustainable and integral development for
the good of all. We can, and must, be united in a common cause to uphold and
defend the dignity of all people. The human person is demeaned by personal and
societal sin. In a culture of indifference, walls of estrangement isolate us
from others, their struggles and their suffering, which also many of our
brothers and sisters in Christ today endure. In a culture of waste, the lives
of the most vulnerable in society are often marginalised and discarded. In a
culture of hate we see unspeakable acts of violence, often justified by a
distorted understanding of religious belief. Our Christian faith leads us to
recognise the inestimable worth of every human life, and to honour it in acts
of mercy by bringing education, healthcare, food, clean water and shelter and
always seeking to resolve conflict and build peace. As disciples of Christ we
hold human persons to be sacred, and as apostles of Christ we must be their
advocates.
Fifty years ago Pope Paul VI
and Archbishop Ramsey took as their inspiration the words of the apostle:
“Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 13-14). Today, “those things which are
behind” – the painful centuries of separation –have been partially healed
by fifty years of friendship. We give thanks for the fifty years of the
Anglican Centre in Rome dedicated to being a place of encounter and friendship.
We have become partners and companions on our pilgrim journey, facing the same
difficulties, and strengthening each other by learning to value the gifts which
God has given to the other, and to receive them as our own in humility and
gratitude.
We are impatient for progress
that we might be fully united in proclaiming, in word and deed, the saving and
healing gospel of Christ to all people. For this reason we take great
encouragement from the meeting during these days of so many Catholic and
Anglican bishops of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for
Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) who, on the basis of all that they have in common,
which generations of ARCIC scholars have painstakingly unveiled, are eager to
go forward in collaborative mission and witness to the “ends of the earth”.
Today we rejoice to commission them and send them forth in pairs as the Lord
sent out the seventy-two disciples. Let their ecumenical mission to those on
the margins of society be a witness to all of us, and let the message go out
from this holy place, as the Good News was sent out so many centuries ago, that
Catholics and Anglicans will work together to give voice to our common faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring relief to the suffering, to bring peace where
there is conflict, to bring dignity where it is denied and trampled upon.
In this Church of Saint
Gregory the Great, we earnestly invoke the blessings of the Most Holy Trinity
on the continuing work of ARCIC and IARCCUM, and on all those who pray for and
contribute to the restoration of unity between us.
Rome, 5 October 2016
HIS GRACE JUSTIN
WELBY
HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS
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