POPE Benedict XVI will meet the Archbishop of Canterbury next month in the leaders' first encounter since the Catholic church moved to make it easier for disenchanted Anglicans to convert to Catholicism, a Vatican spokesman said last night.
Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Anglican leader, was due to visit Rome next month for ceremonies at a pontifical university to honor a late cardinal who worked for Christian unity, said the spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.
Taking advantage o
f the archbishop's presence in Rome, Pope Benedict will receive the archbishop on 21 November at the Vatican, Fr Lombardi said.
The Vatican's move, announced last week, to ease Anglican conversions to Catholicism is designed to entice traditionalists opposed to women bishops, openly gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions in the church headed by Dr Williams.
Given the surprise overture to potential converts, the talks between the Pope and Dr Williams "take on a particularly important significance", said Fr Lombardi.
But he stressed that Dr Williams has met the pontiff during past trips to Rome and indicated the two would have probably met even without the recent developments.
The Anglican church is grappling with doctrinal divisions that threaten to cause a permanent schism among its faithful.
The Vatican move means conservative Anglicans worldwide can become Catholics while maintaining aspects of Anglican liturgy and identity, including married priests.
Before the announcement, disaffected Anglicans had come over to Catholicism on a case-by-case basis, but the Vatican decision set up a formal structure to make it easier for Anglicans to convert.
