A nice essay over at Heresy Corner by Father James Rattue, doing his best to look on the positive side of the move by Pope Benedict to lure Anglicans in Rome’s general direction:

It represents not the triumph of denominational rivalry as it appears, but the erosion of those very rivalries. Previous Anglican converts to Rome, sailing across the Tiber as individuals, couldn’t help being given the impression, no matter how kindly they were treated, that their entire spiritual lives as Anglicans were essentially void and meaningless, something to be discarded and even repented.

Pope Benedict is instead explicitly recognising that the Anglican tradition contains Catholic elements of worth which don’t have to be surrendered because of a change of outward allegiance…

Also some lively comments, including the Heresiarch himself:

I must say, Fr James, you’d make an excellent spin-doctor. There’s more than a touch of "please move on – nothing to see here" about your argument. There are no differences of opinion, only at most differences of emphasis, and of course there’s no competition between the churches. That’s so 16th century, darlink…

RW’s appearance at the press conf. seemed decidedly odd – like a condemned man welcoming his execution, almost. Or perhaps the CEO of a company that’s being taken over and dismantled putting a brave face on it… And behind the scenes I suspect there was real fury, if not from him, then from some of his advisers. That’s what’s being reported, anyway, and it can’t be entirely made up. Or can it?

It’s all about respect, innit?