VATICAN CITY, NOV. 22, 2009 (Zenit.org).- On Saturday, Benedict XVI met with Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, the leader of the Anglican Communion.
The private audience included "cordial discussions," a Vatican communiqué reported.
They spoke about "the challenges facing all Christian communities at the beginning of this millennium, and to the need to promote forms of collaboration and shared witness in facing these challenges."
The communiqué noted that the Pope spoke with the archbishop about "recent events affecting relations between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion."
They reiterated "the shared will to continue and to consolidate the ecumenical relationship between Catholics and Anglicans" and recalled how, "over coming days, the commission entrusted with preparing the third phase of international theological dialogue between the parties (ARCIC) is due to meet."
The Anglican leader's Web site noted that he was in Rome to give an address Thursday at the Gregorian University, in celebration of the centenary of the birth of Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, a Catholic Dutch prelate who promoted ecumenism and served as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
