Delegates to the national assembly of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith, including dozens of clergy, heard they needed to address a key aspect of an "exodus" brought on by the ordination of women bishops.
Read moreThe cardinals in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith could not stand by when Anglican bishops came pleading for clemency after the General Synod vote in July to proceed with the consecration of women bishops without legal provisions for the opponents.
Now, as if reversing at a stroke the iconoclasm of the Reformation, the Pope has with one decree smashed 40 years of ponderous ecumenism that was going nowhere.
Read moreDr Williams appeared distressed when he said at the press conference, hosted by the Roman Catholic Church in Eccleston Square, that he had known nothing of the initiative until two weeks ago. He was notified formally only when Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, visited last weekend to fill in some of the detail.
Read moreThere are splits among Anglicans worldwide over homosexuality and the ordination of women.
Causes of discord in the worldwide Anglican communion have included the election of an openly gay bishop and the blessing of same-sex unions.
The Vatican said the new rules followed requests from Anglicans wanting to join while retaining their liturgical heritage.
Read moreIdeas that might be harder for Anglicans to accept include the concept that the Pope is infallible, at least at certain moments, that Mary was the product of an "immaculate conception," and so born without sin, and the belief known as transubstantiation, which means, essentially, that the communion bread and wine are not just symbols but actually become the body and blood of Christ.
Read moreThe doctrinal orthodoxy in the TAC on life and family issues, as well as liturgical questions, give a clue to the true nature of the objections to the Vatican's move by both Catholic and Anglican "progressives," liberals and feminists. Bishop Carl Reid of the TAC in Canada told LifeSiteNews.com, "When it comes to issues of morality, especially family and pro-life, our membership is very strongly on the same page as are Roman Catholics."
Read more"We simply say that priesthood is reserved for males and we say that in conjunction with the world's Catholic Church and the Churches of the East," he said.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Chair of the Bishops Commission for Ecumenism and Interreligious Relations, Bishop Michael Putney, said in a separate statement on Wednesday that the Vatican announcement followed petitions received over a four or five year period from different Anglican groups.
Read moreBut the provision for married clergy, which the Catholic church has made on a limited basis since at least the 1980s, remains a qualified one. Only unmarried men will be eligible to serve as bishops in the new dioceses, the Vatican said, consistent with a "long historical tradition" in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Read moreOrombi said the African Anglican Church split after realising that the Western churches had yielded to liberal measures on sexuality, which are contrary to the biblical teachings.
Read moreHe said this was not a direct result of the pope's new policy but a reflection of widespread unhappiness with liberal Church of England policies.
"There are 1,000 priests who are totally disenchanted with the position on women bishops, and if there is no provision for them, they will inevitably leave the Church of England," he said. "The Church of England is in a crisis because of its own internal policies and has been for a long time."
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