London, April 19, (PA Media/dpa/GNA) – The Archbishop of Canterbury has hailed her meeting with Pope Leo, as “a significant moment,” describing it as warm, encouraging and hopeful.
Sarah Mullally would not be drawn on whether US President Donald Trump, who has been publicly critical of the pontiff in recent weeks, was discussed during their conversation.
But the two religious leaders shared with each other, their “desire to see peace and reconciliation and justice in the world,” she said.
Mullally is the first female to hold the top ministry role in the Church of England, while the Catholic Church does not allow women to become priests.
The archbishop said the historic meeting at the Vatican on Monday, during which they prayed together, was significant “regardless of me being a woman.”
In an interview at the Venerable English College in Rome after the meeting, she described it having been “a privilege and humbling” and said it was one of “great warmth and a great encouragement and of hope.”
Asked if it felt significant being the first woman in her role to meet a pope, she said: “I think we both recognize that, regardless of me being a woman, this is a significant moment in that both our churches have been on a journey together to deepen our friendship, to pray together and to seek that unity to which we are called.”
On whether they had discussed the topic of women in ministry, she said: “The issue of ministry is an issue for the Roman Catholic Church.
“We met as pastors, and we talked about those issues in the world, like some of the conflict, the need for the church to offer hope to people.”
In his address to the archbishop during their meeting, Pope Leo had called for Anglicans and Catholics to work to overcome differences “no matter how intractable they may appear”, but did not specify what those differences were.
The Church of England first ordained women priests in 1994, and Mullally had already made history by becoming the first woman to hold the role of Bishop of London.
At her enthronement in Canterbury last month, a campaigner for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church for 50 years stood outside the cathedral holding a sign saying “Catholics, let’s do this.”
Mullally described her audience with the pope as a “meeting of two pastors.”
Following Trump’s broadside earlier this month at the pope, who the US president branded “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy,” the archbishop issued a statement backing the pontiff’s calls for peace and urged “all those entrusted with political authority to pursue every possible peaceful and just means of resolving conflict.”
Asked whether Trump and his comments had been part of their discussions, Mullally said: “We talked about the world and recognizing the need for the church to bring reconciliation and hope. And we talked about our desire for both of our churches to be that living out of hope to the world that we can offer, but also our desire that we would pray for that.”
She declined to share her feelings on the widely-criticized and since-deleted image Trump had shared online, which many saw as him portraying himself as Jesus.
The US president later suggested it was an image portraying himself as a doctor.
Asked about the image, she said: “First and foremost, I am a pastoral leader, and what I’m trying to do is to seek to provide that leadership, and that care for the people that have been given into my keeping, and to pray for peace in the world.”
Asked about speaking out on political matters as well as religious, she said: “First and foremost, I am a pastor and a spiritual leader. But of course, in sometimes speaking as a spiritual leader and a pastor and a Christian, there are things that we will say that may be perceived as political – but I am not a politician.”
The archbishop said “pastoral care for our communities” was also discussed with the pope.
Asked if safeguarding failings, which have been an issue for both the Church of England and the Catholic Church, had been spoken of, she said: “We talked together very much about our pastoral care for our communities and the responsibility that we have in ensuring our communities are cared for and looked after.”
In her earlier address to the pope, Mullally had said while there is “inhuman violence, deep division and rapid societal change” in the world, “we must keep telling a more hopeful story.”
She also told the pontiff the king had “valued” his October visit to Rome, “especially the shared prayer and spirit of fraternity it embodied”, which marked the first time a British monarch, the supreme governor of the Church of England, had prayed at a public service with the pope, head of the Catholic Church, since the Reformation.
The archbishop told the pope: “Please be assured of a warm welcome from the Church of England should you honour the United Kingdom with a visit.”
Among gifts offered to the pope from the archbishop was a jar of honey made from nectar from beehives in Lambeth Palace Garden in London, described by her office as “a simple and hospitable token, rooted in place and daily life”.
The pope commented “still a nurse” when Mullally handed it to him, referring to her previous career when she was chief nurse in England.
After her audience, the archbishop joined the pontiff for a service of prayer in the Chapel of Urban VIII, with the pair saying the grace together.
The purpose of her four-day visit to Rome is said by Lambeth Palace to be to “strengthen Anglican–Roman Catholic relations” and “aims to deepen bonds of communion, affirm a shared witness and encourage ongoing collaboration at both global and local levels.”
She is accompanied on the trip by Archbishop of Westminster Richard Moth, who is the leader of Catholics in England and Wales.
GNA