A Summit on Women

The Church of England is consumed with a landmark vote, scheduled next November, on whether to allow women priests. That innovation deeply divides the worldwide Anglican Communion, in which 14 of 34 branches now ordain women to the priesthood. The same issue clouded the ecumenical scene last week when Anglicanism's Primate, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, visited Rome for his first summit meeting with Pope John Paul. Carey, who did not repeat his publicized objections to Rome's hard line on birth control, emerged to describe the encounter of nearly one hour as "excellent, excellent."

Cordiality aside, women's ordination turned out to be a big sticking point. The official communique stated that Archbishop Carey deemed the practice "a possible and proper development," while John Paul said it "constitutes a grave obstacle to the whole process of Anglican-Roman Catholic reconciliation." The Pope's latest warning on women, however, will do nothing to dissuade yes votes in England or elsewhere. For one thing, lingering hopes for Anglican-Catholic reunion were dashed last December by a significant Vatican pronouncement that ruled out any compromise on the powers of the papacy.