The 60th Anniversary of the historic Common Declaration of Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey (24 March 1966) was celebrated in Canterbury Cathedral today, in the Chapel of Our Lady Martyrdom. 

It was marked by a short service of Ecumenical Morning Prayer, led by the Dean of Canterbury, the Very Revd Dr David Monteith. 

The newly installed Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Sarah Mullaly DBE, read from St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians and, at the conclusion of the service, prayed with Cardinal Kurt Koch, Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, at the site of the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket.

Cardinal Koch, who had read the Old Testament reading from the Book of Jeremiah, also shared a message of greeting from Pope Leo XIV to Archbishop Sarah.

Among the Anglicans present was the Rt Revd Anthony Ball (Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See), who led a prayer giving thanks for the Centre and its reconciling witness to Christian Unity.

The Most Revd Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham and Co-Chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), also prayed. He gave thanks for the encounter in 1966 and for the faithfulness to acknowledge, and the courage to reject, hidden indifference, distrust and enmity towards one another.

At the service, Cardinal Koch was accompanied by Archbishop Flavio Pace, Secretary, and Fr Martin Browne OSB from the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity. Representatives from the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome were also present.

Other Anglicans participating included the Rt Revd Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion; the Most Revd Philip Freier, Co-Chair of ARCIC; the Most Revd Stephen Cottrell; members of ARCIC; and Governors of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

As at her Installation yesterday, Archbishop Sarah Mullaly wore the pastoral ring given to Archbishop Ramsey in Rome by Pope Paul VI, which signalled the growing friendship between Anglican and Roman Catholic communities at that time.  Archbishop Ramsey (1904-1988) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 to 1974. Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) reigned from 1963 to 1978.

The Common Declaration, which led to the founding of the Anglican Centre in Rome later in the same year, was the first shared document of its type proclaimed by a Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury and commenced the formal ecumenical relationship between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. It was read in Latin and English at a common prayer service in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, Rome. 

The Declaration has also borne fruit in the work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) and many local ecumenical initiatives worldwide.

The full text of the Common Declaration is provided below:

In this city of Rome, from which Saint Augustine was sent by Saint Gregory to England and there founded the cathedral see of Canterbury, towards which the eyes of all Anglicans now turn as the centre of their Christian Communion, His Holiness Pope Paul VI and His Grace Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the Anglican Communion, have met to exchange fraternal greetings.

At the conclusion of their meeting they give thanks to Almighty God Who by the action of the Holy Spirit has in these latter years created a new atmosphere of Christian fellowship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion.

This encounter of the 23 March 1966 marks a new stage in the development of fraternal relations, based upon Christian charity, and of sincere efforts to remove the causes of conflict and to re-establish unity.

In willing obedience to the command of Christ who bade His disciples love one another, they declare that, with His help, they wish to leave in the hands of the God of mercy all that in the past has been opposed to this precept of charity, and that they make their own the mind of the Apostle which he expressed in these words: ‘Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 3:13-14).

They affirm their desire that all those Christians who belong to these two Communions may be animated by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and fraternal love, and in order to help these develop to the full, they intend to inaugurate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion a serious dialogue which, founded on the Gospels and on the ancient common traditions, may lead to that unity in truth, for which Christ prayed.

The dialogue should include not only theological matters such as Scripture, Tradition and Liturgy, but also matters of practical difficulty felt on either side. His Holiness the Pope and His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury are, indeed, aware that serious obstacles stand in the way of a restoration of complete communion of faith and sacramental life; nevertheless, they are of one mind in their determination to promote responsible contacts between their Communions in all those spheres of Church life where collaboration is likely to lead to a greater understanding and a deeper charity, and to strive in common to find solutions for all the great problems that face those who believe in Christ in the world of today.

Through such collaboration, by the Grace of God the Father and in the light of the Holy Spirit, may the prayer of Our Lord Jesus Christ for unity among His disciples be brought nearer to fulfilment, and with progress towards unity may there be a strengthening of peace in the world, the peace that only He can grant Who give ‘the peace that passeth all understanding’, together with the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that it may abide with all men for ever.

+Michael Cantuarensis

Paulus PP. VI

Rome, Saint Paul Outside the Walls, 24th March 1966

For more information:

Find out more about the Anglican Centre in Rome.
Find out more about the Common Declaration.