Speaking truth to Anglicans.

April 26: Anglicanism

I am afraid that I raised some Anglican hackles when, in my "Diary from Rome," written around the funeral of John Paul the Great and the election of Benedict, I mentioned the "tawdry" wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. I wrote, "It appears the monarchy will survive as a national embarrassment, along with a national church that continues, almost 500 years later, to cater to the unbridled royal appetites to which it owes it existence."

I admit that is harsh and apologize for the offense given, which, to judge from the protests, was considerable. But surely we can agree that, whatever the faults of Rome in the alienation of the Church in England, Henry VIII's appetites were unbridled and were a necessary cause in bringing into existence the Church of England. And I hope we can agree that, if all the reports are correct, Charles' adulterous relationship carried on for years with his mistress, now Duchess of Cornwall, is another instance of unbridled royal appetites.

Bullseye!