Canterbury Mass by Pope would break the law claim

A MASS said by the Pope in Canterbury Cathedral would be against the law of the Church of England. which the Government has a duty to uphold, according to the Reverend David Samuel, Secretary of the Protestant Reformation Society.
Mr Samuel said that any Mass or other Roman ritual in an Anglican place of worship was against ecclesiastical law, unless exempted by measures passed in 1972 to allow shared churches to function. fie hoped that after his society's pointing out the fact to the authorities, the question of a Papal Mass at Canterbury would not arise.
The Dean of Canterbury, the Very Reverend Victor de Waal said that there had been no plans for the -Pope to visit Canterbury. but if he did. he would expect to see an ecumenical or Anglican service of the kind used when the Archbishop of Canter bury visited Rome or when Orthodox leaders visited Canterbury.
The local Catholic parish regularly holds Masses in the Cathedral. and last week a Mass was said in Bristol Cathedral attended by 18(X) people. But Mr Samuel says that Masses in Anglican churches raise the whole question of disestablish
me m. • He added that all men ordained in Anglican orders had to assent to the 39 Articles. Number 31 says: "The sacrifices
of Masses were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits." Mr Samuel said the Anglican Communion service in no way approximates to the Mass, even in the new version, because its interpretation relies on the 39 Articles, Last week the Reverend Anthony Phillips, Chaplain of St John's College Oxford wrote to The Times in the ' hope that Anglicans would be admitted to Catholic Communion in Canterbury if the Pope said Mass. He had been disappointed by the Bishop of Birmingham's refusal to allow Anglicans to receive at a Mass in St John's Chapel.
But Mr Samuel said: "The Catholic Bishop of Birmingham was quite right. An Anglican should not want to participate in U .Roman Mass. The Papal Bull Ott Anglican orders was right — Anglican Ministers are not ordained to offer sacrifice."
He added that the Protestant Reformation Society did not wish to see the Pope come to England at all. The supremacies of the Queen and the Pope were exclusive. But members would not , cause disruption in any place of worship, The Dean of Canterbury said that the whole question of Mass at Canterbury was a canard, and no one shared Mr Samuel's understanding of the 39 Articles,