https://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com/2026/04/controversial-blessing-by-sarah.html Controversial "blessing" by Sarah Mullally in the Vatican before her meeting with the Pope The presence of Sarah Mullally, responsible for the see of Canterbury within the Anglican Communion, in the Clementine Chapel - in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica - has generated controversy after images spread showing her performing a blessing gesture in one of the places closest to the apostle’s tomb. The episode gains greater relevance because Mullally is scheduled to meet next Monday with León XIV, in a meeting that was already planned and which is now preceded by this gesture with strong symbolic weight. The Anglican Communion has been going through a deep internal fracture for years, largely derived from doctrinal decisions such as the ordination of women and other disciplinary changes. These decisions have caused the breakdown of communion between different Anglican provinces and the emergence of parallel structures. From the Catholic doctrinal point of view, the issue has been precisely defined since the 19th century. The bull Apostolicae Curae of León XIII, in whose preparation the cardinal Merry del Val played a relevant role, declared Anglican orders invalid. The document concludes that there is no valid apostolic succession in the Anglican Communion due to defects in the form and intention of the ordination rites after the Reformation. In this framework, gestures that imply acts proper to the priestly ministry in Catholic liturgical spaces cannot be interpreted as equivalent to those of a minister validly ordained according to Catholic doctrine. The episode in the Clementine Chapel thus introduces an element of objective confusion, occurring in a place of maximum significance within the Church and in a context in which the doctrine on the priesthood and apostolic succession is clearly established. This type of gesture does not correspond to an ecumenism based on doctrinal clarity, but rather dilutes the boundaries that the Church itself has precisely defined.
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01644a.htm A Bull of Leo XIII issued 15 September, 1896, and containing the latest papal decision with regard to the validity of Anglican orders. Decisions had already been given that such orders are invalid. The invariable practice also of the Catholic Church supposed their invalidity, since, whenever clergymen who had received orders in the Anglican Church became converts, and desired to become priests in the Catholic Church, they have been unconditionally ordained. In recent years, however, several members of the clergy and laity of the Anglican Church set forth the plea that the practice of the Catholic Church in insisting on unconditionally ordaining clerical converts from Anglicanism arose from want of due inquiry into the validity of Anglican orders, and from mistaken assumptions which, in the light of certain historical investigations, could not justly be maintained. Those, especially, who were interested in the movement that looked towards Corporate Reunion thought that, as a condition to such reunion, Anglican orders should be accepted as valid by the Catholic Church. A few Catholic writers, also, thinking that there was at least room for doubt, joined with them in seeking a fresh inquiry into the question and an authoritative judgment from the Pope. The Pope therefore permitted the question to be re-examined. He commissioned a number of men, whose opinions on the matter were known to be divergent, to state, each, the ground of his judgment, in writing. He then summoned them to Rome, directed them to interchange writings, and, placing at their disposal all the documents available, directed them to further investigate and discuss it. Thus prepared, he ordered them to meet in special sessions under the presidency of a cardinal appointed by him. Twelve such sessions were held, in which "all were invited to free discussion". He then directed that the acts of those sessions, together with all the documents, should be submitted to a council of cardinals, "so that when all had studied the whole subject and discussed it in Our presence each might give his opinion". The final result was the Bull "Apostolicae Curae", in which Anglican orders were declared to be invalid. As the Bull itself explains at length, its decision rests on extrinsic and on intrinsic grounds.
'I will not join my prayers with you, nor you with me!!' St Margaret Clitheroe just before she was crushed to death for not doing so. She must feel pretty silly about this at the moment. https://www.jorvik.co.uk/saint-margaret-clitherow/
A wonderful priest. I hope he does not end up in a world of trouble. These people are ruthless not an ounce of charity or kindness amongst one of them. I think the problem is they think of loving and being good to people as a large group rather than loving a person. It is of the head. Not of the heart.
