The document said that the Second Vatican Council\u2019s opening to other faiths \u201d\u201c including \u201cecclesial communities originating with the Reformation\u201d\u009d \u201d\u201c had recognised there were \u201cmany elements of sanctification and truth\u201d\u009d in other Christian denominations, but had also emphasised that only Catholicism was fully Christ\u2019s Church.<\/p>\n
The document said that other Christian faiths \u201clack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n
The disappointment of the Anglicans was evident in the response of Canon Gregory Cameron, Dr Williams\u2019s former chaplain in Wales and a leading canonical lawyer and scholar who is now ecumenical officer of the Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n
Canon Cameron said: \u201cIn the commentary of this document we are told that \u201d\u02dcCatholic ecumenism\u2019 appears \u201d\u02dcsomewhat paradoxical\u2019. It is paradoxical for leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to indicate to its ecumenical partners that it no longer expects all other Christians merely to return to the true (Roman Catholic) Church, but then for Rome to say that it alone has \u201d\u02dcfull identity\u2019 with the Church of Christ, and that all others of us are lacking.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
He said Anglican bishops had indicated in 1997 that such a position constituted \u201ca major ecumenical obstacle\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n