Under the leadership of John Paul, the Catholic Church made unprecedented efforts to unify Christianity under the “mother” church.
In 1979, on a visit to the United States, the pope introduced a theme that would outlive him: “We … are asking all Christians—Catholic, Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox—to transcend our present and past differences on this occasion, and to mark the papal visit as a sign and stimulus for reconciliation … and to pray for the unity we seek.”In 1982, John Paul became the first bishop of Rome to set foot in England, giving a sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, headquarters of the Church of England.In 1999, Catholics and Anglicans jointly published a document called “The Gift of Authority” that asked Christians from both churches to recognize the authority of the pope. The same year, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was signed by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, ending one of the major disagreements that had split the Christian world since the Protestant Reformation.In May 2000, a global summit of Roman Catholic and Anglican regional leaders, as well as Vatican clergy, was held in Toronto, where they examined how Anglican-Catholic relations could be improved. The talks were the first of their kind.In 2001, “a historical convergence of Europe’s main Christian leaders” signed an ecumenical charter “intended to promote greater interchurch cooperation” (U.S. Catholic, July 1, 2001). The main signatories were the president of the Conference of European Churches—which represents the Orthodox, Anglican, Old Catholic and Protestant churches of Europe—and the president of the Catholic Council of European Bishops’ Conferences. The charter outlined guidelines in the areas of Christian unity, interchurch dialogue and service to European unity. “There is no alternative to reconciliation and ecumenism,” the document stated.In 2002, for the first time the Vatican hosted an exhibition on Anglicanism. The “Anglican Church has been welcomed back to the bosom of the Vatican—at least in spirit,” is how the Houston Chronicle interpreted the move (June 29, 2002). German Cardinal Walter Kasper said, “This exhibition is symbolic of the partial communion which we already share” (Washington Post, June 8, 2002).
