The years following the closure of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 witnessed an explosion of bilateral ecumenical dialogues between various churches. Among these is the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), which traces its origins to a consultation of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops in May 2000. It holds a unique place which may offer hope for renewed ecumenical progress.

Pope St. John Paul II and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. George Carey signed a Common Declaration when Carey visited Rome in December, 1996. In response to that declaration, Carey and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), invited pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops from around the world to gather at a retreat house in Mississauga, ON. Chosen by their fellow bishops to represent their respective Anglican Province or Episcopal Conference, they met to evaluate the state of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations and to chart a course for the future.

Grounded in prayer, the consultation began with a time of retreat, a shared meditation on conversion, communion, and a renewal of baptismal promises. On alternate days, the Eucharist, Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer were celebrated according to the tradition of each communion. Making use of a theological reflection model based on experience, the gathering was designed with a minimum of input from other presenters at the consultation. Among the goals identified by the planning committee, it was hoped that the bishops would have an experience of exercising their episcopal ministry together during the consultation and continuing after, which might encourage commitment to a more regular exercise of shared ministry locally. With this in mind, a questionnaire was forwarded to the countries of the participating bishops prior to the conference. Responses to the questionnaire provided a kind of “map” of the state of current relationships, examples of ongoing joint witness, and issues which should be addressed together.

On 3 and 4 December 2024, representatives of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the steering committees of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) were hosted by the Anglican Communion Office in London, United Kingdom, for the annual Anglican-Catholic Informal Talks. The DPCU was represented by the Secretary of the Dicastery, Archbishop Flavio Pace, and the official responsible for relations with the Anglican Communion, Fr Martin Browne OSB. On Tuesday 3 December, the group attended Choral Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Along with updates on the work of ARCIC and IARCCUM, the meetings provided an opportunity for informal conversations about current developments and challenges within and between the two communities. The incoming Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, Bishop Anthony Ball, kindly welcomed the group to meet at his residence in Westminster Abbey, where he currently serves as a canon. He will succeed the current Director, Archbishop Ian Ernest, who retires in January 2025. The next meeting will take place in Rome on 10 and 11 November 2025.

Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion is the focus of a new paper called The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals released by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO). Commissioned by the 18th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in 2023, a draft of the paper was presented to the Primates’ Meeting in Rome in April 2024, and was revised in conversation with the Primates’ Standing Committee, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the whole of the Standing Committee of the ACC. It has now been published as an offering to the Anglican Communion and for the consideration of the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 2026.

Doubling down on the centrality of synodality in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that it is now up to local churches to accept and implement proposals from the final document approved by the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

Approved by the pope, the synod’s final document “participates in the ordinary magisterium of the successor of Peter, and as such, I ask that it be accepted,” the pope wrote in a note published by the Vatican Nov. 25.

“Local churches and groupings of churches are now called upon to implement, in different contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document, through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided by law and by the document itself,” he wrote nearly a month after the synod’s close.

The final document outlined key priorities for the church, including increased participation of laity through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, greater transparency and accountability among church leadership and creating space for previously marginalized groups.

After synod members voted to approve the final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary apostolic exhortation after the synod but would instead offer the document to the entire church for implementation.

As the IARCCUM.org website has developed, I have been adding little features that enhance the resources and assist people in sharing the material with colleagues and friends. A few years ago, I added social media links to each news post and, eventually, to each document as well. The social media links are supported by some back-end coding to ensure that Facebook, Twitter, and other sites can properly identify the titles and feature images for each page.

More recently, I have had misgivings about promoting the use of Twitter/X and even removed it from the site for a long period. I have now replaced it with Bluesky, a similar service that has no advertising and uses robust content controls.

On each page, there should be a Bluesky butterfly among the social icons. Clicking this link will open a Bluesky compose window where users can compose their own posts if they have a Bluesky account. Similarly, the Facebook, Messenger, Pocket, Email, and WhatsApp icons open their respective websites. These seem to be the most helpful icons at this time.

Note: Bluesky is still in development. One feature that does not yet work fully is the “compose link” that appears on this website. When clicking on the link a new window successfully opens, and the text box is populated with the URL of the target news story. However, Bluesky does not immediately convert this into a photo and a description or caption (known as a link card). However, if you type a blank space immediately before the URL, the search for the link card will initiate. Bluesky is apparently working on this.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a statement announcing his resignation. The statement was made at 2.00 pm UK time and reads:

Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.

When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.

It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.

It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.

I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.

The Board of Governors of the Anglican Centre in Rome has announced the appointment of a new Director. Bishop Anthony Ball will take over the leadership of the Centre when Archbishop Ian Ernest steps down at the end of January 2025. There will be a transition period of a few months, as Bishop Anthony takes up his responsibilities in Rome and concludes those of his current roles.

The Anglican Centre in Rome is the permanent Anglican Communion presence in Rome. It embodies the Anglican Communion’s commitment to the full visible unity of the Church, with a particular focus on building trusted relationships with the Roman Catholic Church and advancing shared ecumenical priorities.

As Director, Bishop Anthony Ball will lead the Centre and be the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See, playing a key role in the interface between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.

Bishop Anthony will also play a major role as a public face of Anglican ecumenical commitment, liaising with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Unity, Faith and Order team at the Anglican Communion Office.

Bishop Anthony is currently serving at Westminster Abbey as Canon Steward and Archdeacon of Westminster and as the Bishop of the Diocese of North Africa in the Province of Alexandria, having previously been an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Egypt.

The Anglican Communion’s representative at the ongoing Synod on Synodality at the Vatican, the Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, has urged the Church of England to learn from the “spiritual atmosphere” of the Rome discussions, while also defending its greater “decision-making transparency”.

Dr Warner is one of 16 non-Roman Catholic “fraternal delegates” participating in the Synod. He said: “There’s a very profound stylistic lesson to be learned — about the role of silence, of conversation in the Holy Spirit as the main protagonist in debates.

“The discussion in small groups, irrigated by silence and prayer, is quite unlike the structural and legislative model of the Church of England’s General Synod. Although it might seem a small detail, something like this could transform the General Synod’s mood and atmosphere.”

Dr Warner, who co-chairs the bilateral English and Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee, attended an ecumenical service of prayer and candlelit vigil for Christian unity on Friday evening. Pope Francis led the event, which the Taizé Community had organised.

An Ecumenical Prayer Vigil took place on Friday, 11 October, in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs at the Vatican, attended by Pope Francis and participants in the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2-27 October 2024).

In his introductory remarks, Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the DPCU, recalled that this day marked the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and also highlighted the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio.

The Synod on Synodality, convened by Pope Francis in 2021, began its final Session this past week. “For a synodal church: communion, participation, mission” has entailed listening to voices from around the Roman Catholic world and beyond. First, listening to the local church (dioceses and ecumenical partners), then listening to continental (or we might say “regional”) bishops’ conferences. The fruits of these two years’ work were brought to the table last year at the First Session for discussion by bishops from around the world, ecumenical participants, theologians and special guests.

This First Session indicated major questions that then were compiled into a text, known by its Latin name ‘Instrumentum Laboris’. We are now listening deeply to one another, discerning what the Spirit says to the church based on themes developed in the ‘Instrumentum’.

The process is unique. It is not a “democratic” process, that is, trying to get a majority on this or that issue, but it is a “conversation in the Spirit.” We are seated at round tables. There are 10-12 participants at each table. Pope Francis himself sits at one such table. We begin in prayer and then everyone shares for no more than three minutes on the theme of that particular day.

This is followed by silent prayer and then a second round of conversation in which each person shares what resonated for them, what they heard from others. After this, there is prayer again and then a general discussion leading to a brief report of the conversation. These reports are gathered, summarized by another group, and then shared back with the plenary for more conversation. By the end of four weeks, we will have discussed the entire ‘Instrumentum Laboris’.

The steering committee of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) met in Washington DC, USA, from 29 September to 2 October 2024. The meeting was kindly hosted by Georgetown University, in association with Virginia Theological Seminary. The steering committee was joined for its meeting by three of the bishops who took part in the IARCCUM summit meeting and pilgrimage of Catholic and Anglican bishops which took place in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024.

During their meeting, the steering committee reflected on the future of IARCCUM, including means of maintaining contact with the pairs of the bishops who took part in the 2024 summit, and the question of replacement of IARCCUM bishops on their retirement from office. The steering committee also spent time reflecting on the origins and specific ecumenical task of IARCCUM, seeking to discern new ways to contribute to the work of deepening communion between Anglicans and Catholics.  The committee also reviewed IARCCUM’s most important publication to date, the 2007 document Growing Together in Unity and Mission, with a view to beginning work on a new document as a resource for bishops of the two churches.

The steering committee of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) met in Washington DC, USA, from 29 September to 2 October 2024. The meeting was kindly hosted by Georgetown University, in association with Virginia Theological Seminary. The steering committee was joined for its meeting by three of the bishops who took part in the IARCCUM summit meeting and pilgrimage of Catholic and Anglican bishops which took place in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024.

During their meeting, the steering committee reflected on the future of IARCCUM, including means of maintaining contact with the pairs of the bishops who took part in the 2024 summit, and the question of replacement of IARCCUM bishops on their retirement from office. The steering committee also spent time reflecting on the origins and specific ecumenical task of IARCCUM, seeking to discern new ways to contribute to the work of deepening communion between Anglicans and Catholics. The committee also reviewed IARCCUM’s most important publication to date, the 2007 document Growing Together in Unity and Mission, with a view to beginning work on a new document as a resource for bishops of the two churches.

In an October 2016 Common Declaration recalling the fiftieth anniversary of the historic visit of Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury to Pope Paul VI in Rome, Pope Francis and His Grace Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, recognized how Anglicans and Catholics “have become partners and companions on our pilgrim journey, facing the same difficulties, and strengthening each other by learning to value the gifts which God has given to the other, and to receive them as our own in humility and gratitude.” Together they advance the work of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), involving Anglican and Catholic bishops giving collaborative witness, based on the unity that Anglicans and Catholics already enjoy. Through IARCCUM, 46 bishops, representing 27 countries, gathered in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024 and pledged to “engage in common witness, to build relationships of friendship in Christ, to walk a synodal path together, and to share wherever possible in the Church’s mission.”

Five IARCCUM participating bishops are meeting at Georgetown University from September 30 through October 2, 2024, and at this public session they will share their experiences as IARCCUM participants.

Mark Santer was born in 1936, son of Canon Eric Santer and Phyllis Barlow. His father was a distinguished incumbent in Bristol diocese and sometime chairman of the Bristol Diocesan Fellowship. Mark was educated at Marlborough, Queens’ College, Cambridge, and Westcott House.

Before ordination, he studied in the University of Utrecht, during which time he attended a sports festival in East Germany which was, in fact, a cover for a meeting of young Christians. There he met Henriette Weststrate, a psychologist from Amsterdam. He was ordained priest in 1964, marrying Henriette in the same year.

He served his title at Cuddesdon, and was also tutor of the college under the principalship of Robert Runcie, who continued to seek his wisdom. Dr Runcie’s significant address to Lambeth 1988 on the nature of unity and on the inclusiveness of the Anglican Communion was drafted in consultation with a small band of trusted collaborators, Mark among them.

In 1967, he became Fellow and Dean of Clare College, Cambridge, and, in 1973, Principal of Westcott House. At his licensing, Professor Charlie Moule spoke of him as “a principal at the height of his powers, outstanding in learning and pastoral ability”.

Some historical background to the specific Irish context is helpful in elucidating the significance of advances in relationships between both Anglicans and Roman Catholics in the country, north and south, over recent decades. Such progress was underlined by the presence of two bishops, one from each tradition respectively, at the recent meeting of the International Anglican–Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) held in both Rome and Canterbury. Before discussing the particular shape of that gathering, we will offer a brief sketch of some key elements of the Irish Christian experience—one in which recourse to physical force and violence has sadly been a recurring theme—to help readers appreciate better the journey in reconciliation and hope that is underway in our country.

Read the rest of this article in One in Christ 57, no. 1 (2024): 113-122.

Niall Coll is the Catholic bishop of Ossory and Adrian Wilkinson is the Church of Ireland bishop of the United Diocese of Cashel, Ferns and Ossory.

Recognizing that the Christian churches continually are called to grapple with new moral issues and that reaching different conclusions can complicate the search for Christian unity, a commission of Catholic and Anglican bishops and theologians has been studying how their traditions make decisions and what they can learn from each other.

Members of the official Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) met May 11-18 in Strasbourg, France, to continue their examination of “how the Church local, regional and universal discerns right ethical teaching,” according to a statement released May 27.

“For the first time in its work, ARCIC III has chosen to include two case studies as part of its reflection — one where Catholics and Anglicans reached broadly the same teaching, and one where they did not. These case studies, on Enslavement and Contraception, illustrate the doctrinal and structural similarities and differences between the two communions and also serve to highlight unresolved questions,” the statement said.

The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) held its annual plenary meeting at the Centre Culturel Saint-Thomas in Strasbourg, France from May 11-18, 2024. It continued to work on the second part of its mandate examining how the Church discerns local, regional and universal right ethical teaching.

Drafting the Agreed Statement for this phase of the Commission’s work had continued during the Commission’s 2023 plenary meeting in Cyprus and aims to be finalised by 2025. When published, the Agreed Statement will complement the document published by ARCIC III in 2017, ‘Walking Together on the Way: Learning to be the Church. Local, Regional and Universal’.

In its Communiqué, issued at the end of the meeting, the Commission stated that it has “adopted an approach of receptive ecumenical learning, whereby each dialogue partner seeks to identify elements of church life found in the other tradition which might be gifts for the enhancement of their own traditions. A large part of the Commission’s work in Strasbourg was therefore devoted to reflecting on moral discernment in our two traditions and on what they can learn from each other’s practices.”

Unity within Christian communities and the unity of all the churches will grow only as believers draw closer to Jesus and learn to be honest in examining if they are listening to the Holy Spirit or to their own preferences, Pope Francis told leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

“We are called to pray and to listen to one another, seeking to understand each other’s concerns and asking ourselves, before enquiring of others, whether we have been docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit or prey to our own personal or group opinions,” Pope Francis said May 2 as he welcomed to the Vatican Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and the primates of the Anglican churches.

“Surely, the divine way of seeing things will never be one of division, separation or the interruption of dialogue,” the pope said. “Rather, God’s way leads us to cling ever more fervently to the Lord Jesus, for only in communion with him will we find full communion with one another.”

Pope Francis read his speech to the group, but also set aside time to respond to the primates’ questions, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, told reporters. The questions, she said, allowed the pope to talk about “his own passions in ministry, unity in diversity, harmony, and he said in several ways that ‘war is always, always, always a defeat.'”

Speaking to the Primates of the Anglican Communion, Pope Francis says that even the very earliest Christians had their disagreements.

Senior clergy from the Anglican Communion are in Rome this week for the body’s 2024 Primates Meeting – the first of its kind to be held in the Eternal City.

On Thursday morning, participants, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, met with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Long history of cooperation

Pope Francis began his address by thanking Archbishop Welby for his presence, noting that he “began his service as Archbishop of Canterbury around the same time that I began mine as Bishop of Rome.”

“Since then,” the Pope added, “we have had many occasions to meet, to pray together and to testify to our faith in the Lord. Dear brother Justin, thank you for this fraternal cooperation on behalf of the Gospel!”

He stressed in particular the pair’s joint trip to Sudan in 2023, which, he said, was “really beautiful”.

In a historic meeting, Anglican Communion Primates from around the world have attended an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican, during the morning of May 2.

In the hour-long meeting, the Pope shared words of encouragement and affirmation in conversation with the primates, responding to questions from those gathered.

In his address, Pope Francis spoke about themes of synodality, church unity and the prioritization of relationships, Christian love and service.

The Pope said: “Only a love that becomes gratuitous service, only the love that Jesus taught and embodies, will bring separated Christians closer to one another. Only that love, which does not appeal to the past in order to remain aloof or to point a finger, only that love which in God’s name puts our brothers and sisters before the ironclad defence of our own religious structures, only that love will unite us. First our brothers and sisters, the structures later.”

This was a significant moment in a week in which the Anglican Primates’ Meeting has been held in Rome. They have gathered for pilgrimage, prayer, and discussion about joint mission and witness, along with conversation about synodality, structures, and decision-making in the Anglican Communion.