Catholics: Anglicans must accept pope

LONDON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Britain's top Roman Catholic prelate says disgruntled Anglicans must accept the pope's authority if they wish to convert because of Church of England reforms.

Rev. Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster and the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, warned Friday anyone who bolts the Church of England for Catholicism because of the ordination of female priests or its stance on homosexuality is making a mistake, The Guardian reported.

"It must be a positive desire in the heart – not questions of the ordination of women to the episcopate, not questions of sexual ethics -- but it must center round the understanding of the role of the office of the bishop of Rome," Nichols told the newspaper. "A person must be embracing of that concrete aspect of Catholic life, which is the authority of the Holy See in the person of the pope, if they are going to make this journey with integrity."

A conversion, Nichols said, wouldn't mean just "picking bits of the Catholic faith."

Nichols made the comments before a meeting between Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Pope Benedict XVI over a Vatican initiative allowing Anglicans to retain parts of their spiritual heritage, the Guardian said.