"We have learnt with regret of the news of the vote of the Church of England, which opens the way to the enforcement of the legislation that leads to the ordination of women as bishops". This is the comment of the Pontifical Council for promoting christian unity about the latest events that have occurred within the Anglican Communion. "The Catholic position on this point states the note, disclosed today by the newsroom of the Holy See has been clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and by Pope John Paul II. Such decision means a rift with the apostolic tradition maintained by all the Churches of the first millennium, and as such it is one further obstacle to the reconciliation of the Catholic Church with the Church of England. For the future, this decision will have consequences on dialogue, which so far had borne good fruit, as Cardinal Kasper clearly explained when he spoke on June 5th 2006 to all the Bishops of the Church of England on the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Cardinal has been invited again by the Archbishop to submit the Catholic position to the forthcoming Lambeth Conference in late July".
