"For us continued Cardinal Kasper the decision to ordain women implies an abandonment of the common position of all the Churches of the first millennium, in other words, not only the Catholic Church, but also the Oriental and Orthodox Churches". For this reason, "although our dialogue has led to a significant agreement on the idea of priesthood, the ordination of women to the episcopate substantially and definitively blocks any possible recognition of the Anglican Orders by the Catholic Church". The cardinal therefore expressed the hope for the continuation "of a theological dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church", though without disguising the fact that "this latest development directly undermines our objective and alters the level of what we pursue in dialogue". In response "to the current problems and crises" of the Anglican Communion the cardinal declared: "In critical moments" of the history of the Church of England "you have succeeded in recovering the strength of the Church of the Fathers when this tradition was at risk". "A recovery of the riches present in your family", he concluded, would today be "a renewed reception, a new recourse to the apostolic tradition in an unprecedented situation".
