This means, in practice, that a place will be made within Catholic liturgy for Thomas Cranmer's 1662 Book of Common Prayer - considered by many to rival Shakespeare's plays as the apotheosis of the English language. Also to be welcomed is the rich treasure of Anglican hymnody. All of this is (to paraphrase Hamlet) "...a consummation devoutly to be wished", and it was greeted as such by many thoughtful Catholics and Anglicans of my acquaintance.

The immediate benefits are obvious: first, the Catholic Church will be strengthened by an influx (no one can yet say exactly how many) of committed, orthodox Christians. The priests who arrive with them will be men following Christ's instruction to leave everything behind - job security, income, pensions, in some cases, families - to come and follow Him. These priests may help to alleviate, to some extent at least, what is in danger of becoming a chronic shortage of Catholic vocations.

Until 2006 I was an Anglican. By the time I left, I had grown sick of hearing colleagues whimper about the growing apostasy within Anglicanism but doing nothing about it. Well, now they can do something. Pope Benedict XVl has called their bluff. The destination was always there; now there is a bridge to cross over. No one need jump; no one need swim. It will be fascinating to see who crosses and who stays put; those who stay put should be heard from no more.

Yet I have also some reservations. First, I worry that the liberal element within Catholicism, particularly in North America, will do all they can (which could be considerable) to frustrate this welcome initiative. There are some Catholics who would rather move the Church in the direction of Anglicanism, even Anglicanism in its death throes, than to see orthodoxy strengthened. Second, it is unclear yet how Rome will reconcile its traditional teaching (e.g. on the invalidity of Anglican orders) with this new initiative. Finally, it is unclear whether this rapprochement with Anglicanism is only the first step of an initiative to all orthodox Protestants; in other words, is Pope Benedict XVl signaling that the ecumenism of the 21st century is not more pointless dialogue with the decaying husks of old-line Protestantism, but rather a new beginning with any ecclesial community willing to engage with Rome on historic Christendom?

I hope this is so. If it is, then the Pope's October 20th announcement will be remembered as the day when the Berlin wall of religious separation began to crumble; the wall erected five centuries ago - on October 31, 1517 - when Martin Luther affixed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. If we have lived to see that breach healed, to witness the Christian church finally taking seriously Jesus' prayer that "...they may be one, as I and the Father am one", then this is the most important story of 2009.

----Ian Hunter is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law at Western University in London, Ontario. He writes occasionally for Virtueonline. This article first appeared in teh Globe and Mail