One is the ruler of a global congregation recently put at nearly 1.2 billion, the other a nominal head of a worldwide communion of some 80 million….Joseph Ratzinger and Rowan Williams will [soon] meet during the papal visit to Britain. There is much to unite these seemingly disparate figures<\/p>\n
It is common to describe Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, as the two most distinguished thinkers to hold their respective posts for several centuries. Both are former professors steeped in the classical Christian tradition, but share a gift for recasting apparently dusty or arcane material in up-to-date language. Both are excellent preachers, lucid as well as learned.<\/p>\n
It is equally common to point up big differences between the two leaders, starting with the most divisive internal questions of our times: women bishops and homosexuality. The Pope\u2019s conservatism on both matters is implacable. The archbishop thinks that all levels of ordained ministry should be open to candidates of both sexes; and he made several weighty pro-gay statements before his translation to Canterbury \u201d\u201c even though he now feels bound to defer to the conservative majority in worldwide Anglicanism on this subject….<\/p>\n
Look a bit closer, though, and an apparently ill-matched pair seem a lot less different than at first sight.<\/p>\n