Some friends wonder why I haven't said much. The reason is that having expected for some time something like the Ap Con, I have already posted a lot of expressions of opinion about the practical matters involved; particularly the liturgical and those relating to clerical marriage. Just last month, for example, you could look back to Sept 9&10; Sept 12&13&14; Sept 24.
The plain fact is that the details are going to be very important and it is the details that we do not have. I suspect that the document is not actually written: we have not, you notice, been told its name (the first couple of words of the Latin text). Rowan mentioned a 'Code of Practice'; perhaps this is something mentioned to him by Levada the previous evening.
I regard as significantly positive the willingness of Rome to allow married Anglican bishops to continue to exercise episkope in the guise of prebyteral Ordinaries. The Holy Father, as in the matter of Summorum Pontificum, has not just given the minimum.
Pessimists might wonder what the English RC bishops said to Levada on Monday, and what effect that will have on the eventual form of the legislation.
No doubt, this Roman Pontiff is prepared to employ some fraternal firmness with His English episcopal brethren should such be required. Indeed, I should not be surprised to learn that He has already employed it, and not just with them, but possibly with Cardinal Levada as well. It is hard to see His Eminence being extraordinarily enthusiastic about this idea, much less coming up with it (though I should be pleased to be wrong there): it has all the marks of Benedict XVI's sensibilities on it, in the mind of Whom no doubt are always the sacred words salus animarum suprema lex, which maxim surely represents to Him something infinitely more important than even the genuine benefits of œcumenical comity and chit-chat.
ReplyDeleteNow dear brother John, we very much will thank the Holy Ghost if we shall soon be able to greet you with a holy and affectionate kiss. And do not worry, it will be worse than you think!