Anglican leader Rowan Williams accepts authenticity of Lourdes

My apologies for not covering this story more closely, it is highly news-worthy, even unprecedented:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was today branded a ‘papal puppet’ after he became the first leader of the Church of England to accept visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes as historical fact.

He asserted that 18 visions of Our Lady allegedly experienced by Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 were true.

His words shocked millions of Protestants worldwide because they not only signified a break with Protestant teaching on the Virgin Mary but also Dr Williams’s personal acceptance of the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is explicitly linked to the apparitions.

The archbishop made his remarks during a three-day visit to the shrine in the French Pyrenees - the first ever by a leader of the Church of England. In a homily he preached at an international Mass there, Dr Williams spoke about the apparitions without any qualifications.

... He also praised the lives of the saints, another devotion seen as distinctively Roman Catholic.

... The archbishop’s pilgrimage comes just a week after Pope Benedict XVI made his own pilgrimage to the shrine.

He was invited to the shrine by Jacques Perrier, the Catholic Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes.

Dr Williams was joined there by the German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, who celebrated the international Mass.

He was also joined by an unprecedented pilgrimage of 10 Church of England bishops, some 60 Anglican priests and about 400 Anglican lay worshippers, a number of whom are considering becoming Catholics in protest at the decision of the General Synod in July to pave the way for the creation of women bishops. (UK Mail Online)

The rest of the story recounts how Dr. William's actions and words have a whole set of people really, really steamed. What courage Dr. Williams has shown for following-through on the pilgrimage he set out on.

What does this mean in the broader context, in terms of the Anglican communion and Anglican-Catholic relations? Time will tell, but I'd appreciate any good commentary people have come across. Drop a link in the comment box!