He has never met John Paul II, but if one day he should have an opportunity to do so (the possible dates for such a meeting are being discussed) he would like to discuss with him poetry and Hans Urs von Balthasar, the Swiss theologian who “more than anyone else opened up theology to completely new perspectives in the 1950s”. The remark is contained in a long interview that the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams granted to Charles Moore of the “Daily Telegraph”. Discussion also focused on petrine primacy. “Would you be ready to accept the primacy of Peter for the sake of a united Christianity?”, Moore asked Williams. “One would first need to understand – replied the archbishop – what is meant by that. At the present time, the primacy of the pope works in a particular way in jurisdiction and as doctrinal authority: these are ways that it would be difficult for me to accept as an Anglican”. The archbishop recalled, however, that “alternative models” to petrine primacy are being sought not only within the Anglican Communion but also among many Orthodox theologians.
