Pope Leo XIV met with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, last week in Rome. Addressing Mullally and representatives from the Anglican Communion, Pope Leo explained that full communion between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion recently has become more challenging. The recent challenge to reunion stems from essential doctrinal differences, particularly regarding the ordination of women. Pope Leo reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s teaching on a male-only priesthood. Yet, it would be incorrect to assume that the reason for disunity stems only from women’s ordination. Instead, the issue rests on the Anglican ordination rite itself.
Another Leo, Pope Leo XIII issued the papal bull Apostolicae Curae in 1896. In it he officially declared ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite to be “absolutely null and utterly void.” The pope at that time did not base his judgment on the gsex of Anglican clergy (because the Catholic view is that those women are not ordained, so let’s not call them “the ordained”). Instead, he recognized that during the English Reformation in the 16th century, changes made to the Anglican ordination rites fundamentally altered the sacrament. Defects in form and intention meant that the sacrament could not be celebrated validly despite appearances.
Hence, while the attempted ordination of women in the Anglican Communion may be a recent development complicating reunion, the main issue stems from a much earlier misunderstanding of ordination beginning in the 16th century. Nonetheless while continually working toward unity, speaking with Pope Leo XIV, we want to “proclaim Christ to the world together.”
