The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven
Catholic dogma proclaimed under papal infallibility by Pope Pius XII in 1950

UK—An end to the centuries-old division over the place of the Virgin Mary in the Church came closer this week after the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) said that there is deepening agreement on her role.

But Anglican evangelicals immediately poured scorn on the proposal in the new report that the ‘infallible’ dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, are ‘consonant with the teaching of scripture’.

The report also says that controversial Roman Catholic devotional practises relating to Mary and the Saints, need not be ‘communion-dividing’. It states that there is “no continuing theological reason for ecclesial division” over the role of the Virgin Mary.

The meetings of ARCIC in the past few years on Mary argued that both communions were involved in a process of re-reception of the place of Mary in the life of the Church. They also claimed that differences over Mary were exaggerated by both sides following the Reformation.

The report, ‘Mary: Hope and Grace in Christ’, which was published this week after six years of discussion, says that Papal dogmas about Mary are not new ‘revelation’ but instead new ‘definitions’ of scriptural teaching.

It concludes that the teaching about Mary in the two definitions of the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception can be said to be consonant with the teaching of the Scriptures and the ancient common traditions.

Doctrine and devotion, which focuses on Mary, including claims to ‘private revelations’, must be moderated by carefully expressed norms, which ensure the unique and central place of Christ in the life of the Church, it states.

The authors of the report hope that it will begin a process of reconciliation in overcoming one of the most fundamental obstacles to closer unity between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. They are keen for a “common faith” concerning Mary, as outlined in the paper.

The document is now to be put to the two Churches. If they come to agreement on this it would place the questions about authority in a new ecumenical context and represent a fundamental change in the relationship.

The door, the report suggests, is closed on the option of Anglicans agreeing to differ on Mary if the churches reunited. “Roman Catholics find it hard to envisage a restoration of communion in which acceptance of certain doctrines would be requisite for some and not for others.”

The former Bishop of Woolwich, the Rt Rev Colin Buchanan, warned that many evangelicals would be very slow to be convinced about the assertions of the report. “Is the commission drawing people together or putting itself out on a limb?” he asked. “Anglicans have been hijacked by the Roman Catholics and it seems as though the captives have become sympathetic with the captors.”

The Rev Rod Thomas, a spokesman for the evangelical group Reform, said: “If Mary has been wholly and completely assumed into Heaven and we are able to pray to her, it goes completely against the grain of Jesus Christ being our great high priest who intercedes on our behalf with the Father.”

He added: “It has become clear that we can only find common ground through theological fudge. That can never be a basis for moving forward in unity.”

The working party included Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, and the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali.