from ic.wales 'Anglican Pope' claims played down Oct 25 2003 Rhodri Owen, The Western Mail THE Church in Wales has played down reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury is to be given sweeping powers that would turn him into an Anglican version of the Pope. It has been claimed that planned changes in church law would empower Dr Rowan Williams to intervene in the affairs of churches outside England. A report in The Times said the proposals were included in a legal document to Anglican primates who met recently at Lambeth Palace to discuss the crisis over same-sex blessings in Canada and the election of a gay Bishop in the American state of New Hampshire. The paper quoted Martin Reynolds, of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and a priest living in Wales, as saying, "They are looking to have an Anglican version of the Holy Office and Magisterium. They won't call the Archbishop of Canterbury a Pope but that is what he will be. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck." Last night a Church in Wales spokesman acknowledged that the Anglican communion had reached a critical point, but said it was far too early to predict any such changes in church law, and reiterated the autonomy of the Church in Wales. "Last week's meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion at Lambeth Palace was clearly a very intense two-day meeting," said the spokesman. "While the statement called for the establishment of a Commission to consider the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury 'in maintaining communion within and between provinces when grave difficulties arise', it would seem very premature to be second guessing the outcome of that commission's work - even before it has been established - as [the] article in The Times appears to do. "As the Archbishop of Wales, Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan, made clear in a recent speech, 'We do not have a centralised system of government in the Anglican Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury is not our Pope ... Each province is autonomous.' "Whilst recent events might have led individual provinces to consider afresh 'what is the Anglican Communion?' and the nature of the relationships which make up that Communion, it seems unlikely that such discussions could lead to the establishment of an 'Anglican Pope'." __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/