Pope Benedict has called the Anglicans’ bluff

This week the Holy Father published his Apostolic Constitution providing pastoral care for former Anglicans, Anglicanorum coetibus (“On Groups of Anglicans”). The consensus is that the document, with its accompanying norms, is even more generous than expected. The Anglican bishops who petitioned Pope Benedict XVI have been given every assistance that they can reasonably have hoped for, and perhaps a bit more. The leaders of Forward in Faith, the main conservative Anglo-Catholic body, are pleased (as well they might be – they provided some of the blueprint for the Constitution).

But there is also a rather rueful recognition that their bluff has been called. It is up to them to demonstrate that significant numbers of lay people wish to become Catholics en masse. They have decided to make a formal response in February.

Our readers will by now be familiar with the broad outline of the Constitution, which provides for parishes using aspects of Anglican liturgy in quasi-dioceses (ordinariates) headed by an ex-Anglican clergyman who may be a married former bishop. One surprise in the document is that ordinaries, even if married, may be allowed to use episcopal insignia; another is that ordinariate priests will be able to hold appropriate secular jobs – a very clever move, given the impossibility of funding large numbers of new Catholic priests. A great enrichment of the Church is on the horizon. Now we wait for the Anglicans to make up their minds. But Pope Benedict has made one thing clear: this is a move of the Holy Spirit.