On April 27, 2026, something almost impossible happened beneath Michelangelo's dome. A woman—the first to hold the seat of Archbishop of Canterbury since Augustine in the 6th century—knelt in prayer in St. Peter's Basilica. Sarah Mullally, the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, was on a four-day pilgrimage to Rome, where she was received by Pope Leo XIV in a meeting that church historians will long remember. Five centuries of solemn silence—since Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1534—hung over that moment. And yet, that moment happened.
It would be tempting to categorize this meeting as a mere diplomatic gesture, a beautiful photograph for the press. That would be a profound mistake. What transpired in Rome at the end of April possessed a theological and spiritual depth that the media has failed to capture. It is this depth that we wish to explore here, now that the fruits of this encounter are only just beginning to ripen.
The weight of a step: understanding the historical magnitude
Five centuries in one gesture
To grasp the significance of Sarah Mullally's visit to the Vatican, one must go back not only to the English Reformation, but also to the theological context preceding the schism. Henry VIII's break with Rome in 1534 was not, in its origins, a doctrinal rupture in the Lutheran sense of the term. It was primarily political—a dispute over dynastic succession and matrimonial power. And yet, this purely human act engendered five centuries of separation, mutual distrust, religious wars in England, and reciprocal excommunications.
It is in this light that the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury takes on its full significance. This is not simply another "interreligious summit." It is a daughter Church returning, not in submission—that would be to misunderstand Anglican ecclesiology—but on a fraternal pilgrimage to the tomb of Peter. And Leo XIV, far from receiving this visit with the condescension of a victor, "displayed his joy"—a remarkable term for an official act—and both expressed their "desire to continue efforts at rapprochement."«
This vocabulary is not insignificant. In Vatican language, where every word is carefully chosen, "joy" (gaudium) and "will" (willsThese are loaded theological terms. They refer to the very dynamic of Christian hope, that virtue which Saint Paul describes in the Epistle to the Romans as an anchor that «does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit» (Rom 5:5). The unity of Christians is not built on protocols: it is built on this fundamental trust that the Spirit always precedes humanity.
The context of a historical acceleration
This visit did not arise in a vacuum. It is part of a sequence of remarkable events. As early as October 2025, King Charles III became the first British monarch to pray publicly with a pope since the 16th-century schism—in the Sistine Chapel itself, during a service blending Catholic and Anglican traditions. This prayer, focused on the protection of creation, testified to the growing convergence of the two Churches on major global ethical issues.
Then, in January 2026, Sarah Mullally officially took office after her enthronement at Canterbury Cathedral in March, before some two thousand faithful, including Prince William and his wife. For the first time in five centuries of history, a woman held the See of Augustine. From then on, her arrival in Rome took on a doubly symbolic significance: she represented not only the Anglican Church, but also, in her very person, one of the most sensitive doctrinal issues in ecumenical dialogue—that of the ordained ministry of women.
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), established in 1967 following the historic meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI, has been working for over fifty years to bring the two denominations closer together. In May 2024, its third phase of dialogue was still meeting in Strasbourg to work on shared ethical discernment. These decades of theological patience form the deep ground in which the 2025-2026 meetings are rooted.
The remaining obstacles: frankness and clarity in dialogue
The new issues that are dividing us
Leo XIV was clear, with a frankness befitting his nascent pontificate: «New problems have arisen in recent decades.» He did not explicitly name these problems during the public meeting—papal diplomacy has its rules—but no one is unaware of what they are. Two issues crystallize the current disagreements: the ordination of women to the episcopate, and the blessing of same-sex unions.
On the first point, the Church of England took the step in 2014, authorizing women bishops, and Sarah Mullally herself embodies the culmination of this evolution. The Catholic Church, for its part, maintains that priestly and episcopal ordination is reserved for men, a position confirmed by John Paul II in the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of 1994 — a decision that the Magisterium describes as definitive. This divergence is not peripheral: it touches on the very conception of the sacrament of Holy Orders and the hermeneutics of Tradition.
On the second point, the Church of England voted in February 2023—not without significant internal tensions, with 571 votes in favor—to allow the blessing of same-sex couples during liturgical ceremonies, while maintaining that marriage remains a union between a man and a woman. This decision, welcomed by some within the Anglican Communion and strongly opposed by others (particularly the provinces in sub-Saharan Africa), has further widened the gap with Rome. The Catholic Church, for its part, clarified with Fiducia Supplicans (December 2023) that she can bless people in an irregular situation, but not the unions themselves.
Clarity without despair
The temptation, faced with these obstacles, is twofold: either to minimize them in a naive ecumenical enthusiasm, or to absolutize them to the point of making all dialogue impossible. The authentic Catholic path rejects both extremes. John Paul II formulated this precisely in Ut unum sint (1995): "Our imperfect communion must not prevent us from walking together." This statement is not a doctrinal capitulation. It is the recognition that the visible unity of the Church is both an eschatological given—it belongs to the fullness of time—and a concrete, daily, demanding task.
Theologian Yves Congar, one of the architects of the Catholic ecumenical renewal, liked to distinguish the level of the truth and the level of the charity. One cannot be sacrificed to the other. But neither can one claim to serve the truth while abstaining from fraternal charity. This is precisely the balance that Leo XIV seems to be seeking in his successive actions since his election.
It is significant, in this regard, to reread the Second Letter to the Corinthians, where Paul exhorts the community, torn apart by divisions, to allow itself to be "reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20). The apostle does not ask for the erasure of differences: he asks for the conversion of heart that allows one, despite differences, to recognize one another as bearers of the same Gospel. It is this movement of mutual conversion—what ecumenical vocabulary calls the metanoia — which constitutes the true driving force behind the dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans.
The fruits are already visible: Leo XIV practices what he preaches.
A pope who acts from within
The significance of the meeting with Sarah Mullally would be incomplete if it were isolated from the distinctive style of Leo XIV's pontificate. This pope, whose election in May 2025 surprised many observers, is building his magisterium through a coherence between symbolic gestures and institutional decisions. And the appointment, on June 2, 2026, of Maria Montserrat Alvarado as Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication—the first laywoman to head a dicastery of the Holy See—offers a striking illustration of this.
This appointment was not a product of the times. It is an internal response to a challenge from the outside. To receive a woman—and moreover, a woman who has held pastoral and episcopal authority in her own Church—as spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, and then, three days later, to entrust a prominent leadership position to a laywoman within the Vatican itself: the consistency is not accidental. It is the sign of a pontiff who is considering possible transformations without calling into question the doctrinal foundations.
Certainly, Montserrat Alvarado heads a dicastery of communication, not a doctrinal one. Certainly, the appointment of a laywoman, even one of high responsibility, says nothing about the question of ordained ministry. But it sends a signal that ecumenical dialogue can decipher: the Catholic Church is not impervious to the evolution of women's responsibilities, provided that this evolution takes place in fidelity to its own theological tradition.
Witnesses together in a secularized world
There is an often overlooked dimension in analyses of the Catholic-Anglican dialogue: the concrete reason why this dialogue is urgent. It is not merely an abstract ecclesiological question. It is a question of Christian presence in a rapidly secularizing world. In England as in France, in Belgium as in Australia, Christian churches are facing the same silent hemorrhage: the departure of the faithful, the interruption of the transmission of faith, and the closure of parishes.
In this context, every act of division among Christians is a luxury that the Gospel does not permit. Leo XIV and Sarah Mullally expressed this in common language during their meeting: "to overcome differences in order to be witnesses together." This formulation—common witness (martyria in the Greek tradition) — is one of the three fundamental forms of unity that contemporary ecumenism puts forward, along with common prayer and fraternal service.
Perhaps this is the most precious fruit of the April meeting: not a signed doctrinal agreement or a press release, but the confirmation that two Churches separated for five centuries can look at each other and say: we share the same Lord, the same eschatological hope, and the same missionary urgency. The Epistle to the Ephesians expresses this reality with particular force when Paul speaks of «one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called» (Ephesians 4:4). This unity of vocation precedes all historical divisions. It does not erase them—but it puts them into perspective, in the light of the common goal.
What the future might hold
The question that naturally arises is what comes next. Where does this dynamic lead, concretely? The ARCIC dialogue, which is currently working on the question of shared ethical discernment, could lead in the coming years to a joint declaration on the fundamental values that unite Catholics and Anglicans in the face of the challenges of the contemporary world. This would not be full and visible unity—that belongs to God—but it would be a further step on the path that John Paul II opened and that his successors refused to abandon.
The appointment of an American pope from a missionary congregation—the Augustinians of the Assumption, according to information circulating about him—is significant in this regard. A pontiff trained in the school of mission does not conceive of unity as an ideological victory, but as an evangelical necessity. And if Leo XIV received Sarah Mullally with joy, it is because he knows, deep in his faith, that Christ did not pray for his Church to be the most powerful, but that "they may all be one" (Jn 17:21)—this prayer which gives its title to the great ecumenical encyclical of John Paul II, and which remains, for the entire Church, both a program and a promise.
The road is long. The obstacles are real. But something shifted in St. Peter's Basilica on April 27, 2026. A woman knelt at the tomb of the Apostle Peter, representing five centuries of a sister Church. And a pope smiled. In the language of the Spirit, that too is theology.
✝ Biblical references
3 passages · 3 books
It is in weakness that my power is made perfect. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Defending Paul's apostolate: strength in weakness and a ministry of reconciliation.
→ Explore the Codex 2 Corinthians- «"Not a superpower, but love" — Leo XIV's Pentecost as a theology of peace
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- Peace between the Churches, a condition for peace in the world: Zuppi, Leo XIV and ecumenism at the heart of the Ukrainian storm
- The Ambassador of the Invisible: Why the Vatican Never Renounces Presence
Put on the armor of God to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:11)
Mystery of the Church, body of Christ: unity, new life and spiritual battle.
→ Explore the Codex Ephesians- The Neocatechumenal Way put to the test of unity: between missionary fruitfulness and liturgical tensions
- Leo XIV and the SSPX: The Church put to the test by its own memory
- Four faces for a looming schism: Poinsinet de Sivry, Hanappier, Schreiber, Goldade — the countdown to Écône
- Governing as a servant: Leo XIV's chirograph and the art of ecclesiastical decentralization
The righteous will live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
Paul's great theological synthesis: sin, grace, justification, and life in the Spirit.
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