‘Continue to work towards overcoming our differences’ Pope Leo meets with Anglican Archbishop Sarah Mullay

Pope Leo XIV welcomed Sarah Mullay, recently named the Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Vatican on April 27, calling on Catholics and Anglicans to press forward in ecumenical dialogue and warning that divisions among Christians diminish their ability to bring Christ's peace to a suffering world.

Mullay is the first woman to lead the Church of England. Henry Ndukuba, the leader of the Anglican Communion's Church of Nigeria, spoke out against her appointment over concerns about her position on so-called gay marriage.

"Our suffering world greatly needs the peace of Christ," the Pope said during an address to Mullay and her delegation. "The divisions among Christians weaken our capacity to be effective bearers of that peace."

Pope Leo greeted the delegation with the words of the risen Christ, "Peace be with you."

"This greeting invites us not only to accept the Lord's gift of peace, but also to be messengers of his peace," the Holy Father said. "The peace of the risen Lord is 'unarmed.' This is because he always responded to violence and aggression in an unarmed way, inviting us to do likewise."

The Pope tied that call directly to the imperative for Christian unity, saying a divided Church cannot effectively proclaim the Gospel.

"If the world is to take our preaching to heart, we must, therefore, be constant in our prayers and efforts to remove any stumbling blocks that hinder the proclamation of the Gospel," he said. 

He cited his own episcopal motto — In Illo uno unum, Latin for "In the One — that is Christ — we are one," drawn from St. Augustine — as a reflection of his longstanding conviction that unity is essential for evangelization.

The meeting comes on the 60th anniversary of the historic 1966 encounter between Pope St. Paul VI and Anglican Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which produced a joint declaration committing both communions to a "new stage in the development of fraternal relations." 

Pope Leo acknowledged that the “ecumenical journey” since then “has been complex.” 

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) was established in the wake of the 1966 meeting, but new points of disagreement have emerged in recent decades, “rendering the pathway to full communion more difficult to discern,” the Holy Father said. 

He urged that those ongoing theological differences not become a reason to halt collaboration.

"We must not allow these continuing challenges to prevent us from using every possible opportunity to proclaim Christ to the world together," he said.

He invoked the words of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who told the Anglican Communion in 2024 that "it would be a scandal if, due to our divisions, we did not fulfil our common vocation to make Christ known."

"I add that it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear," Pope Leo said.

This is the second high-profile gesture Pope Leo has made toward Mullay since her appointment. As Zeale News reported, the Vatican published a letter from the Pope addressed to her at the time of her March 25 installation. In the letter, the Holy Father called for ongoing dialogue "in truth and love" and echoed Francis's warning against allowing divisions to impede their "common vocation to make Christ known.” 

>> In greeting to new Canterbury archbishop, Pope Leo urges cultivating a reconciled Christian community <<