The Anglican Communion’s chief representative to the Roman Catholic Church is spending today talking with the students at St John’s College in Meadowbank.

And Archbishop Sir David Moxon – who is back home, on leave from his Rome appointment – told his audience this morning that signs of the willingness to ‘walk together’ between the world’s two largest western church denominations continue to be seen and felt.

Much of that goodwill emanates from Pope Francis himself, he said - and is seen in Pope Francis’s ‘let’s get real, let’s get over ourselves” attitude.

Archbishop David recounted the Pope’s comment when he first met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. He greeted him by saying he was “his older brother by two days”.

Meaning not just that he’d been elected as Pope two days before Justin Welby was chosen as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Meaning also, said Sir David, that “we are capable of walking together as ordained people, as servants of the servants of God.”

The Pope had time and again demonstrated his keenness to press the reset button said Sir David.

For example, he’d shunned the official papal apartments (“there is room for 300 people in there!” he’s reported to have said) to live in a one room apartment in a modest Vatican hostel.

Cappucino couture?

Archbishop David recounted what had happened the first time he’d slipped downstairs to grab a cappucino from a coffee machine. He was wearing a plain white shirt and dark trou at the time – and a soutane-and-sash wearing cardinal had remonstrated with him about his casual garb.

The next evening the Pope had again slipped downstairs for his cappuccino, and again encountered the cardinal. This time Pope Francis was himself wearing soutane and sash. He duly made his cappucino, sipped it – and remarked to the cardinal: “Why: The coffee tastes exactly the same...”

This pope’s message, said Sir David, is that “There are no boundaries or borders. Let’s find God together. Let’s be human together. Let’s walk together.”

For his part, Justin Welby is demonstrating the same instincts: riding on buses, inviting a refugee family to live at Lambeth Palace, setting up the Community of St Anselm, whereby young people are invited to live in community for a year at Lambeth.

Archbishop David – who is also co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC3) – told the students that there was also “85 percent agreement” between the Catholic and Anglican churches over doctrinal matters – including, critically, official agreement about justification by faith, and about what takes place at the Eucharist.

Neither memorial nor molecular

Both denominations agreed that the Eucharist is neither a simple “memorial” nor a “molecular change”.

Jesus’s words at the Last Supper, can be translated from the Greek as: “Do this for the recalling of me.”

Jesus must therefore have meant, said Archbishop David that: ‘I will be there with you. Really present. I am there among you whenever you do this. When you break bread with me, everybody and everything is transformed.”

Archbishop David then briefly reviewed various other doctrinal sticking points: such as papal infallibility, the immaculate conception, and the assumption of Mary. There’d been fresh insights and greater understanding on each, he said.

And while there had seemed to be no way around the disagreement over the ordination of women – even that had changed in the last few days, with Pope Francis calling for a commission to examine whether women should be “reinstated” as deacons.

In the meantime?

So what can Anglicans and Catholics do in the time before unity is reached?

If, in fact, full unity is ever reached?

They can and do, said Archbishop David, co-operate and collaborate on issues of justice and peace.

Which is a major part of the remit he has as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See.

Archbishop David is scheduled to deliver three lectures at St John’s today.

In the second, he will expound more on the ecumenical task, and will talk about shared Anglican and Catholic work on issues like human trafficking.

In his final session Archbishop David will reflect on his lifetime of ministry as priest, bishop and ambassador, and suggest what’s needed from men and women in ministry in the period ahead.