Little evidence so far that Anglican leaders plan to join GAFCON in leaving Anglican Communion

The GAFCON statement’s potential impact was evident as soon as it landed Oct. 16. It immediately provoked intense reactions in Anglican circles around the world.

The conservative Christian network, a mix of leaders from recognized Anglican provinces and breakaway groups, had announced that its primates, as the heads of their respective churches, were effectively leaving the Anglican Communion. They would reject the authority of the archbishop of Canterbury and no longer participate in, contribute to or receive assistance from the structures that have long bound together the Anglican Communion’s 42 autonomous, interdependent provinces.

The statement, titled “The Future Has Arrived,” accused senior leaders of the Anglican Communion of “the abandonment of the Scriptures” and said GAFCON’s member primates had “resolved to reorder the Anglican Communion.”

Some conservative supporters of GAFCON rejoiced at the apparent split. Other Anglicans, particularly in provinces like The Episcopal Church that have been more welcoming to LGBTQ+ Christians, reacted variously with dismay, confusion, ambivalence and uncertainty.

A week later, one lingering question is how many – if any – Anglican primates and their provinces plan to follow through with GAFCON’s call to leave the Anglican Communion? The statement outlining that plan was signed by one person, Rwanda Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, who serves as chair of GAFCON’s primate council.

Of the GAFCON council’s other 12 members, eight represent provinces that are recognized as members of the existing Anglican Communion. One, the Church of Nigeria, shared the text of the letter online without additional comment. Episcopal News Service could find no evidence of any statements from the other seven provinces supporting the new GAFCON plan for disengagement outlined by Mbanda.

All efforts to reach leaders of those provinces were met with silence, except for one: The Province of the Anglican Church of Congo is still part of the Anglican Communion, one of its top bishops told ENS.

“The call to disengage from the Anglican Communion needs to be made collegially through debate,” Archbishop Zacharie Masimango Katanda, who served as Congo’s primate from 2016 to 2022, said by email in response to an ENS inquiry. “The Church of Congo will not follow that call and remains a full member of the Anglican Communion, and also a member of the Global South.”

Mbanda’s Rwanda province is one of three Anglican provinces that have long boycotted Anglican Communion meetings over theological disagreements on human sexuality, same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay and lesbian priests and bishops. Likewise, Nigeria and Uganda had already disengaged with much of the Anglican Communion’s structure, including the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council. The exit of those three provinces, therefore, would signify little change in participation with what the Anglican Communion calls its Instruments of Communion.

The other six Anglican provinces that are represented on GAFCON’s primates’ council are Alexandria (Egypt), Chile, Congo, Kenya, Myanmar and South Sudan. Until now, conservative primates in those provinces, though affiliated with GAFCON, have continued to engage with their peers across the Anglican Communion at its meetings.

In addition to seeking comment from those six provinces by email and WhatsApp, ENS also reviewed their websites and social media accounts for any references to the GAFCON statement in the week since its release, but found none.

Nor has there been any public reaction from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, many of whose conservative leaders overlap with GAFCON’s leadership. The latest information posted to the Global South Fellowship’s website and Facebook page has been solely focused on a formation retreat underway this week in Uganda.

GAFCON, on the other hand, has been regularly promoting Mbanda’s statement on its Facebook account, with daily posts since last week.

“We give thanks for the joyful announcement approved last week by the Gafcon Primates’ Council that the Anglican Communion has been reordered as a fellowship of autonomous provinces bound together by the Scriptures and the Reformation Formularies,” an Oct. 22 Facebook update says. “We rejoice that we have not left the Communion… we are the Communion!” (The Oct. 16 statement said GAFCON would name the new entity the “Global Anglican Communion.”)

ENS sought comment and clarification from GAFCON’s general secretary, the Rt. Rev. Paul Donison, who is a leader in the breakaway Anglican Church in North America. ACNA was founded in 2009, and many of its early members were former Episcopalians who objected to The Episcopal Church’s stances on women’s ordination, LGBTQ+ inclusion or both.

Donison, based at an ACNA church in Plano, Texas, had not yet responded to an Oct. 22 phone message by the time this ENS story was published. He has spoken about Mbanda’s statement in other venues. On Oct. 17, he published an article on the Christian website the Gospel Coalition explaining the reasons for GAFCON’s split with the Anglican Communion.

“Over the last several decades, some of the most senior leaders in the communion —particularly in the Church of England and The Episcopal Church (USA) — have embraced revisionist teachings,” Donison wrote. “These include the rejection of biblical authority in matters of marriage, sexuality and the uniqueness of Christ. Evangelicals across traditions will recognize the dynamics here: when leaders abandon Scripture as the final authority, the gospel itself is at stake.”

Mbanda’s statement did not specify the reason for timing this decision now, though it was issued two weeks after the Church of England announced that London Bishop Sarah Mullally would become the first female archbishop of Canterbury. The position represents a “focus of unity” for the 85-million-member Anglican Communion in recognition of the 42 provinces’ roots in the Church of England. She is scheduled to take office in January.

Some of the more conservative Anglican leaders have increasingly spoken of “impaired” communion since the Church of England’s General Synod voted in 2023 to allow same-sex couples to receive blessings in England’s churches. Mullally co-chaired the group that helped draft that policy.

Separately, in July 2025, Archbishop Cherry Vann was elected to lead the Church in Wales, becoming the first LGBTQ+ primate in the Anglican Communion. At the time, Mbanda released a statement saying Vann’s election “shatters the communion.”

On Oct. 17, Mbanda alluded to Mullally’s selection as archbishop of Canterbury in a discussion of his latest GAFCON statement with the Christian interview program, “The Pastor’s Heart.” He suggested GAFCON has been building to this moment since its founding in 2008 as the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglican Leaders.

“As we knew that we were anticipating this announcement of the archbishop of Canterbury, and knowing that we had been on a journey since 2008 with GAFCON … I think it was time to start thinking, OK, so what do some of these founding fathers think?” Mbanda said. “It was also time to say, OK, we have talked a lot. Is it a time to walk the talk?”

Mbanda did not specify who was involved in those conversations or how they may have registered their assent to his statement.

Yet even some conservative leaders within the Anglican Communion have questioned the legitimacy and prudence of declaring a break with the communion to establish a rival network with a similar name.

“To my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ in GAFCON: You have broken my heart,” the Rev. Matthew Olver, an Episcopal priest who serves as executive director and publisher at the Living Church Foundation, wrote in an essay on the Living Church’s website.

“Your communiqué of October 16 sounds as though you are rejecting all of us who confess the apostolic faith and are committed to a traditional witness within the Episcopal Church and in provinces throughout the communion — my heart is crushed.”

Others have affirmed their commitment to the Anglican Communion, emphasizing the importance of walking together as Anglicans despite persistent differences on individual theological questions. The Episcopal Church places “great value on our continuing relationships in the Anglican Communion and on the historic role of the archbishop of Canterbury as first among equals,” Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe said last week in a written statement to ENS.

Bishop Helen Kennedy of the Canadian Diocese of Qu’Appelle, as liaison to The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council, called GAFCON’s statement “heartbreaking” in her remarks to Executive Council on Oct. 22 at its recent meeting.

“Making outrageous statements is not helpful,” Kennedy said. Instead, she emphasized the “very clear, very strong” response issued by the top bishops in the Anglican Church in Canada.

The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion and a bishop from South Sudan, said last week the Anglican Communion “is ordered by historic bonds, voluntary association” and that any changes “should be made through existing structures.” Some such reforms, known as the Nairobi-Cairo proposals, are scheduled to be discussed next year at a meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Mullally has emphasized “working together in mission.” On Oct. 3, in her first address as archbishop of Canterbury-designate, Mullally said she has witnessed local expressions of the faith in her travels around the Anglican Communion that “echoed with familiar grace” in their shared Anglican context.

“I saw something deeply distinctive, coupled with mutual understanding: a shared inheritance of history, of family of worship, sacrament and word — made real in global diversity,” Mullally said. “Anglican Churches and networks around the world working together in mission, joining their voices in advocacy for those in need.

“In an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter but stronger: shared history, held in tension, shaped by prayer, and lit from within by the glory of Christ. That is what gives me hope. In our fractured and hurting world, that partnership in the Gospel could not be more vital.”

David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Fraternity and hope strengthen relations between Catholics and Anglicans

Perspectives on the visit of the British Royal Family to the Vatican by Archbishop Pace, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and Bishop Ball, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. The warmth and gestures that accompanied it “nurture our confidence in the path of dialogue and engagement with one another to which our churches remain wholeheartedly committed. We continue to hope, as Pope Leo has expressed it, for ‘the re-establishment of full and visible communion.’”

Four years after her death in 1603, the body of Queen Elizabeth I was moved and re-interred in the same grave as her half-sister, Queen Mary I (Tudor), in London’s Westminster Abbey. United by blood, the two were divided by religious affiliation. A series of Acts of Parliament between 1529 and 1536 had transferred all spiritual and canonical authority over the ‘ecclesia anglicana’ from the papacy to the crown. The 1534 Act of Supremacy declared their father, King Henry VIII, Supreme Head of the Church. This Supremacy was briefly repealed during the reign of the Catholic Mary, but was re-established during the reign of the Protestant Elizabeth.

That the Catholic Queen Mary, whose short reign was marked by such vigorous attempts to reverse the English Supremacy that she became known as ‘Bloody Mary’, and the Protestant Elizabeth, whose long reign saw that Supremacy consolidated, are buried together is remarkable. This powerful sign of longing for the restoration of unity and of hope in the healing power of the paschal mystery of the Lord Jesus is reflected in the extraordinary inscription on their joint tomb: “Regno consortes et urna hic obdormimus Elizabeth et Maria sorores in spe resurrectionis” – “Consorts in realm and tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters in hope of resurrection”.

Sadly, during the centuries that followed, relations between Catholics and Protestants in England and, indeed, between England and Rome were not marked by anything like this sense of fraternal affection. Much blood was shed and there were many martyrs on both sides. Long after the violence ended they remained strangers to one another. When a small group of Roman Catholic and Anglican scholars began exploring the possibility of corporate reunion in 1921, in what were known as the Malines Conversations, the Catholic bishops of England were not at all enthusiastic. On the global level the Catholic Church remained aloof from the ecumenical movement for much of the first half of the twentieth century. It was only in 1960 that the first visit of an Archbishop of Canterbury to Rome in modern times took place, when Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher visited Pope John XXIII. Such was the sensitivity around their meeting that no photography was allowed.

Royal visits to Rome had begun somewhat earlier. Against government advice, King Edward VII visited Pope Leo XIII in 1903 – in a strictly private capacity. Although a British legation to the Holy See was established in 1914, it was not until 1982 that full diplomatic relations were established. King George V and Queen Mary visited Pope Pius XI in 1923, but the next British royal visit to the Vatican did not take place until 1961, when Queen Elizabeth II visited Pope John XXIII. Hers was  the first official visit to the Holy See by a British monarch since the Reformation. She later visited Popes John Paul II and Francis and also received Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI during their visits to the United Kingdom.

This gradual warming of relationships between the United Kingdom and the Holy See took place in parallel with growing closeness between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. Speaking of the communions that were separated from Rome as a result of the Reformation, the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism taught that “among those in which Catholic traditions and institutions in part continue to exist, the Anglican Communion occupies a special place”. When Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI met in 1966, their Common Declaration spoke of “a new stage in the development of fraternal relations, based upon Christian charity, and of sincere efforts to remove the causes of conflict and to re-establish unity”. The Anglican Centre in Rome was inaugurated shortly afterwards. The decision of the Pope and the Archbishop to establish a theological dialogue led to the founding of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). ARCIC has published fourteen separate documents over the last fifty years. During the canonisation of forty English and Welsh martyrs of the Reformation era in 1970, Pope Paul spoke of looking forward to the day when the Roman Catholic Church “is able to embrace her ever beloved Sister in the one authentic communion of the family of Christ”.

The programmes for previous royal visits to the Holy See did not include religious services. That King Charles III’s visit today includes not only prayer in the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls, but also prayer in the Sistine Chapel, alongside the Pope himself makes this a truly historic occasion. It truly also is historic that a bond between the English Crown and Saint Paul’s that was broken when our churches separated, was re-established today, in a way that is meaningful for our time and which respects the King’s coronation oaths. With the permission of the Pope and the encouragement of the Archpriest, the brothers of the Benedictine Community at the Basilica of Saint Paul have embraced King Charles and named him a royal confrater of the Basilica. The newly-created seat in the Basilica in which the King is installed today will stand as a visible reminder of this gesture of loving hospitality, the significance of which should not be underestimated. It is a recognition, despite many outstanding theological differences, of the depth of the communion between our two traditions. It is significant that the gift of confraternity was offered. It is significant that His Majesty wished to accept it. It is significant too that leaders of the national churches of both England and Scotland are present and participating in the service at Saint Paul’s.

Sadly fulfilment of the hope of which the tomb of Queens Mary and Elizabeth speaks and the embrace in one authentic communion for which Pope Paul VI prayed remain at a distance. Indeed, developments over the years have caused some to wonder if the goal is receding rather than getting closer. Archbishop Justin Welby and Pope Francis addressed this directly in a Common Declaration in 2016: “While, like our predecessors, we ourselves do not yet see solutions to the obstacles before us, we are undeterred. In our trust and joy in the Holy Spirit we are confident that dialogue and engagement with one another will deepen our understanding and help us to discern the mind of Christ for his Church.” The warmth of the welcome to King Charles at the Vatican today and the gestures accompanying it renew that trust and joy and nurture our confidence in the path of dialogue and engagement with one another to which our churches remain wholeheartedly committed. We continue to hope, as Pope Leo has expressed it, for “the re-establishment of full and visible communion”.

Archbishop Flavio Pace is Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. Bishop Anthony Ball is Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See.

Pope Leo and King Charles make history with first-ever joint prayer service in Sistine Chapel

King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom were received in a private audience by Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace this morning, Oct. 23, during a state visit to the Holy See. Afterward, for the first time in history, a British monarch and a pope prayed together in the Sistine Chapel in an event of great ecumenical significance.

The royal couple arrived at the Vatican in a motorcade that drove through St. Peter’s Square and the Arch of the Bells and then to the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. They were given a state welcome with a guard of honor provided by the Swiss Guard, as a band played the national anthems of the United Kingdom and Vatican City State. The regent of the papal household, Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, then escorted them to the pope’s library, where they were welcomed by Pope Leo.

Charles had met three other popes—John Paul II, Benedict and Francis—while he was Prince of Wales, and met Francis a second time after ascending to the throne; it was his and Queen Camilla’s first encounter with Pope Leo.

Read the rest of this article in America Magazine

King Charles and the Catholic ‘hand of history’

It is now 40 years since King Charles, as Prince of Wales, planned with the help of Vatican officials and the full support of Robert Runcie, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury, to attend a Roman Catholic mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II.

The heir to the throne was going to be in Rome with his wife, Diana, and the intention was that they would visit the Polish pope.

Runcie, who had hosted John Paul at Canterbury Cathedral for an ecumenical service three years earlier in 1982 during the Pope’s pastoral visit to Britain, was enthusiastic and believed the time was right for such an ecumenical gesture in the heart of Rome.

Only the “lunatic fringe”, he told the prince, would object, perhaps mindful of the moderator of the Free Church of Scotland who had written to complain, saying of his Canterbury encounter with the pontiff: “We fear that the false and blasphemous claims of the papacy may be given more credence by Your Royal Highness’s attendance at this service.”

But this time, Runcie was wrong. It wasn’t only Scottish Presbyterians or Ulstermen who worried about the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England getting too cosy with the Pope.

It also bothered the Queen, Elizabeth II, who feared it was a step too far. She had previously indicated some reluctance about the Canterbury event, urging Charles to attend but not participate.

If participation in an ecumenical service in the mother church of the Church of England was a bridge too far, then attending a Roman Catholic mass was seemingly, for the Queen, a ticking time bomb.

At the time she was mulling over the religious service, Brian Mulroney, the Canadian prime minister and a Catholic, was visiting and she asked his opinion. Mulroney did not perceive it as a problem, but he later recalled that the Queen was not going to approve of anything that “might undermine the monarch’s integrity as head of the Church of England”.

Changing times

How times have changed. This week, the King, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, will pray publicly with Pope Leo XIV at a special ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel, the place where a conclave is held to elect a pope.

The state visit of the King and Queen Camilla to the Vatican is an historic occasion. The King and the Pope will pray together in the Sistine Chapel, the first time a British monarch and pontiff will have prayed alongside one another since the Reformation.

The theme of the service will be care of creation — bringing together a longstanding concern of the King and of Pope Leo, and indeed his predecessor, Pope Francis.

It will also focus on church unity — symbolically expressed by the choir of the Sistine Chapel singing alongside the children of the choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal and the Choir of St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

The Sistine Chapel service will be one of the highlights of the very brief state visit of the King and Queen to the Vatican. There are many reasons for it. One is that this is a delayed visit. There was supposed to be a state visit to the Vatican in the spring, but Pope Francis was seriously ill and it had to be cancelled, with the King and Queen having a private audience with him days before he died. Now his successor, Leo XIV, elected on 8 May, will be the royal couple’s host.

Ecumenical relations

Then there is the boost to ecumenical relations. The Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church have been engaged in warmer relations for decades, healing the lingering scars of the Reformation.

There are regular visits to Rome by archbishops of Canterbury who by tradition since Michael Ramsey’s time have stayed in the English College seminary. Its rector, Stephen Wang, has already said that the newly appointed Sarah Mullally is welcome to stay there.

Catholics and Anglicans engage together via the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s own “embassy”, the Anglican Centre in Rome, has worked for nearly 60 years to liaise with the Vatican, and it has been pushing for years for the ancient links between the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls — which hosts the main annual service of Christian unity week — and Britain to be revived. This will happen during the King’s visit when he attends the basilica, be made a “confrater of St Paul” and receive a special chair that will be kept there for him.

Then there is the Foreign Office. No visit of this kind goes ahead without Foreign Office say-so and they see it as vital to connecting with the Vatican and its soft power, especially regarding peace, security and the environment.

The King’s personal journey

Above all this is about a personal spiritual odyssey of the King who appears to have become increasingly enthusiastic about engaging with the Roman Catholic Church.

This has proved a landmark year for strengthening the King’s links to the Roman Catholic Church, encompassing moments of constitutional, family and ecumenical significance.

There was the decision to appoint Lady Elish Angiolini, a leading Scottish lawyer and Catholic to be his representative — the Lord High Commissioner — to the Church of Scotland’s general assembly.

The King’s choice led to an end to a discriminatory ban on Catholics taking the role, which had been in place since 1829 when other public offices became open to Catholics after the Emancipation Act of that year. A special act of parliament had to be put in place, so his choice was permitted — a triumph for equality of religious belief.

Then there was his visit to the home of John Henry Newman, the Anglican clergyman who shocked Victorian society when he became a Catholic. Charles had attended his canonisation in Rome in 2019, writing an article for the Vatican paper, L’Osservatore Romano, in which he expressed delight in Newman’s ideas about the importance of harmony — a concept close to Charles’s own heart.

This time, the visit to Newman’s home, and the church he founded, the Birmingham Oratory, came just weeks before Newman was made a doctor of the church — an honour acknowledging the importance of his teaching, wisdom, and intellect, and the first Englishman to be so honoured since the Venerable Bede.

And finally, there was the King’s decision to lead his family in attending the requiem mass for the Duchess of Kent, a convert to Rome, at Westminster Cathedral.

Elizabeth II never attended a mass in Britain, only attending one abroad when she visited Brussels for the requiem of her great friend, King Baudouin. Again, she was displaying caution.

So what makes her son seem so much more open in his approach to the Catholic church and that bit more engaged?

Charles has long shown a great interest in religion as a whole, and is known to have a particular interest in Islam, a sympathy for Judaism, and a family feeling for Greek Orthodoxy — his paternal grandmother became an Orthodox nun in later years, and his father was baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church.

But his regard for church institutions has at times wavered. He was seemingly alienated from the Church of England for some years when some Anglican clergymen openly criticised his fitness to inherit the throne given his marital difficulties.

There were previous visits to Rome, particularly a visit to Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 when he seemed uninterested and the conversation lasted a mere 15 minutes.

Then in 2010, when Pope Benedict made a state visit to the UK, Charles appeared to go missing in action. Sources say that his mother wanted him to meet the Pope when he arrived at Edinburgh Airport but he declined, and she sent her husband instead.

Other members of the royal family also gathered at Holyrood for the papal visit. There was talk of Charles wanting to host a discussion on inter-religious dialogue, but it never happened.

Why relations have thawed

Since then, several reasons have been given for better relations. One is Camilla. She joined the prince in his visit in 2009 and again in 2012. Vatican officials found her warm and engaging.

Camilla is no stranger to Catholicism. She was married in a Catholic church to Andrew Parker Bowles and their children were raised as Catholics. On her second visit to Rome she sought out the head teacher of her daughter’s school, by then working in Rome. Her ease around Catholics and familiarity with the church is said to have influenced the King.

Then there is the engagement over recent years with the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, which works with persecuted Christians. The King has attended many of its events, including services in Catholic churches and receptions and has hosted people it has helped at his Scottish home, Birkhall, as well as making private donations to help its work.

Sources say that he has been profoundly moved by the people he has met who have suffered for their faith and also by the commitment of those who work to help them. It seems to have bolstered his own faith.

Friends may do so too. At the time of his marriage to Diana in 1981, Archbishop Runcie described Charles somewhat disparagingly as “deeply into the Laurens van der Post spirituality” but he was equally influenced by the poet Kathleen Raine, a woman of varied spiritual beliefs including Roman Catholicism to which she converted.

Another Catholic person of influence is the Duke of Norfolk: it is custom for a Duke of Norfolk to preside over a Coronation.

In May 2022 — as it turned out, only a year before his coronation — Charles attended an event at Archbishop’s House, home of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, to mark the centenary of the Society of St Augustine, an organisation set up to look after the house. At the time, it seemed a rather recherché charity for the prince to support, but its president is the Duke of Norfolk, a man who would loom large in the year ahead, after the death of Elizabeth II in September 2022.

The coronation

The coronation, with a few tweaks here and there, followed a pattern set down in previous times, with the monarch’s oath to uphold the Protestant religion. And in a television address following his accession to the throne, the King made it clear that he was most definitely an Anglican — but acknowledged the rich ethnic and religious mix of contemporary Britain.

Despite that and the Reformation, the coronation service remained essentially a Catholic mass — a mass that the king’s regal forebears would also have participated in — and much like an ordination for a priest.

The coronation included touches that indicated not only a recognition of that heritage but also rapprochement, too, with the Roman Catholic Church.

Prayers were said by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, the Pope’s representative, the papal nuncio, attended, and a cross given by Pope Francis led the procession of the King as he made his way to the altar in Westminster Abbey to be anointed — and promise to uphold Protestantism. This could be interpreted as mixed messages — or ecumenism in practice.

The title that the King inherited when he acceded to the throne — Defender of the Faith — was one first given to an English king, Henry VIII, by a grateful pope. As this king heads to Rome, he may well be feeling the Catholic hand of history upon his shoulder.

Catherine Pepinster is the author of Defenders of the Faith: the British Monarchy, Religion and the Next Coronation. She is now working on a book about British Catholics 1829-2029

GAFCON says its members will leave Anglican Communion to form rival network

The conservative Anglican network GAFCON, a mix of leaders from Anglican provinces and breakaway groups, released a statement Oct. 16 saying it would disengage from the Anglican Communion’s existing deliberative bodies and create a rival to the Anglican Communion with an unspecified number of provinces.

The message, titled “The Future Has Arrived” and posted to GAFCON’s website, was signed only by Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda, as chair of the network’s primates council, though Mbanda said he was issuing the statement after a meeting with other GAFCON primates about their path forward.

In it, Mbanda said the GAFCON primates have rejected the authority of the archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops and the Primates’ Meeting, the four so-called “Instruments of Communion” by which the 42 autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion maintain their interdependence. It also says the breakaway provinces “shall not make any monetary contribution to the ACC, nor receive any monetary contribution from the ACC or its networks.”

Mbanda and his Anglican Church of Rwanda have boycotted Instruments of Communion meetings for years, as have leaders of the Anglican provinces in Nigeria and Uganda. Until now, conservative primates in other provinces, though affiliated with GAFCON, have continued to engage with their peers across the Anglican Communion at those meetings.

It was not clear from Mbanda’s statement how many of his fellow primates now planned to join him in forming what he said would be called the “Global Anglican Communion.” Of the members of GAFCON’s primates’ council listed on its website, nine are leaders of provinces that are recognized as part of the Anglican Communion: Alexandria (Egypt), Chile, Congo, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. The statement did not specify which of those members attended the meeting before the statement was released.

Mbanda also did not specify the reason for timing this decision now, though his statement was issued two weeks after the Church of England announced that London Bishop Sarah Mullally would become the first female archbishop of Canterbury, a position that represents a “focus of unity” for the 85-million-member Anglican Communion in recognition of the 42 provinces’ roots in the Church of England.

Some of the communion’s more conservative provinces do not allow women to become bishops, and several of those provinces’ leaders released statements this month grieving the choice of Mullally, who is scheduled to take office as archbishop of Canterbury in January.

GAFCON’s latest statement, which rejects continued participation in the Anglican Consultative Council, also was issued a day after the ACC Standing Committee held its annual meeting Oct. 13-15 in Jordan. The ACC is structured to welcome representatives from all 42 provinces, a mix of bishops, other clergy and lay leaders.

The full ACC is scheduled to discuss possible changes to the Anglican Communion’s leadership structure, including the role of the archbishop of Canterbury, when it meets in June and July 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It isn’t clear yet how the GAFCON statement will affect discussions of what are known as the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals.

In an Oct. 17 written statement to Episcopal News Service, the Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion and a bishop from South Sudan, said the Anglican Communion “is ordered by historic bonds, voluntary association” and that any changes “should be made through existing structures.” That is why, he said, the work of the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals is important.

GAFCON was formed in 2008 in opposition to the increasingly welcoming policies toward LGBTQ+ Christians that were embraced by some Anglican provinces, including The Episcopal Church. Mbanda’s statement this week alludes to those disagreements over human sexuality, accusing more progressive Anglicans of “the abandonment of the Scriptures” and saying global Anglican leadership had “failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion.”

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe released a statement to ENS for this story, affirming that The Episcopal Church places “great value on our continuing relationships in the Anglican Communion and on the historic role of the archbishop of Canterbury as first among equals.”

“We celebrate Bishop Sarah Mullally’s elevation to that seat and rejoice that, as the first woman to hold that role, she will bring our communion closer to the fullness of the image of God and bear witness to the breadth of God’s gifts in the service of God’s mission to the world,” Rowe said. “It is always a cause of sorrow when siblings in Christ choose to walk apart, and we grieve that some GAFCON primates have chosen to remove themselves from the Anglican Communion. We pray for their participation in God’s mission in their contexts.”

The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals were developed by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order upon request of the ACC at its meeting in February 2023, which was attended by leaders from all 42 Anglican provinces except Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda. The draft proposals were released in December 2024, and Poggo emphasized that all Anglican Communion primates, members of the ACC and others from Global South Fellowship of Anglicans and GAFCON have been invited to engage with the proposals in advance of next year’s ACC meeting.

“The Anglican Communion Office recognizes that in a diverse, global communion, there is a wide range of theological and doctrinal perspectives. There are also deeply held differences, disagreements, and divisions, which strain and wound the Communion,” said Poggo, who also shared a pastoral letter on Oct. 17 with Anglican provinces. “The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals face these divisions directly, not to resolve them, but to encourage all Anglicans to ‘make room for one another.’

“Jesus prayed that ‘they may all be one’ (John 17.11). To persist in – imperfect, impaired – communion is to commit to work at this task together, and not apart.”

David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

A message to the Anglican Communion from the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt Revd Dame Sarah Mullally

A message of joy and hope to the Anglican Communion from the next Archbishop of Canterbury – The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE.

‘Dear sisters and brothers,

‘When I think about the Anglican Communion, I am filled with joy and hope. As a vibrant part of God’s universal church, it serves millions of Christians across the globe, spanning diverse cultures and traditions. I give thanks for the churches of the Anglican Communion and their faithful Christian presence in communities worldwide.

‘Through the deep bonds of friendship shared between the Provinces, I know that every day, Anglican churches strengthen one another in mission; stand alongside one another in times of adversity and speak out on matters of injustice and inequality.

‘This is possible, because as Christians, we are all called to one hope. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians says:  “…We all share in one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

‘My prayer for the Anglican Communion is that we will continuously respond to the hope of the Gospel with confidence and conviction. In our world today, millions are suffering from the effects of war, conflict, injustice and inequality in many forms. Globally and locally, there is much to discourage and divide us.

‘Yet in these times, we are called to bear with one another in love, extending grace and standing as witnesses to Christ’s reconciling power. Let us be a communion that strives to bridge divisions, look outward in compassion, and stand with the vulnerable, modelling the love of God that knows no boundaries.

‘As I prepare for this ministry, I am committed to listening deeply, serving faithfully, and fostering unity and mutual support throughout the Anglican Communion. I look forward to working alongside my fellow Primates and bishops across the world, and learning from the rich diversity of each Province and their local congregations. I also look forward to joining the Anglican Consultative Council when it meets in 2026.

‘Wherever your church is located and whatever challenges you face, be assured of my prayers and my partnership. Through the daily Anglican Cycle of Prayer, let us continue to uphold one another in prayer, asking for God’s guidance and blessing on our churches and communities. Together, may we share God’s love and work tirelessly for social justice in our world.’

• View a video of this message
• Read about the announcement of the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury on the Anglican Communion News website.
• Read the welcome statement from the Secrectary General of the Anglican Communion to the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE to become 106th Archbishop of Canterbury

His Majesty The King has approved the nomination of the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, Downing Street has announced.

The 106th Archbishop of Canterbury since Saint Augustine arrived in Kent from Rome in 597, Bishop Sarah will be the first woman to hold the office. 

She will be installed in a service at Canterbury Cathedral in March 2026.

Sarah Mullally has been the Bishop of London since 2018, the first woman appointed to that role, and before that was Bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter. Prior to her ordination in 2001, she was the Government’s Chief Nursing Officer for England – the youngest person ever to be appointed to that role at the age of 37 – having previously specialised as a cancer nurse. Bishop Sarah has described nursing as ‘an opportunity to reflect the love of God’.

The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) for Canterbury nominated Bishop Sarah following a process of public consultation and prayerful discernment that began in February this year. The Canterbury CNC was made up of representatives from across the Church of England, global Anglican Communion and the Diocese of Canterbury.

The most senior bishop in the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ministry combines many roles including serving as the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan, as well as primus inter pares – or first among equals – of the Primates of the global Anglican Communion, which consists of around 85 million people, across 165 countries. In the House of Lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury is one of 26 bishops who comprise the Lords Spiritual.

Bishop Sarah said: ‘As I respond to the call of Christ to this new ministry, I do so in the same spirit of service to God and to others that has motivated me since I first came to faith as a teenager.

‘At every stage of that journey, through my nursing career and Christian ministry, I have learned to listen deeply – to people and to God’s gentle prompting – to seek to bring people together to find hope and healing.

‘I want, very simply, to encourage the Church to continue to grow in confidence in the Gospel, to speak of the love that we find in Jesus Christ and for it to shape our actions.

‘And I look forward to sharing this journey of faith with the millions of people serving God and their communities in parishes all over the country and across the global Anglican Communion.

‘I know this is a huge responsibility but I approach it with a sense of peace and trust in God to carry me as He always has.’

Lord Evans, Chair of the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury, said: ‘It has been a great privilege to have chaired the Crown Nominations Commission as it sought to discern who God is calling to lead the Church of England and Anglican Communion as Archbishop of Canterbury. That discernment began with the public consultation, which heard the voices of thousands of people as they expressed their hopes for this nomination, and continued all the way through to the Commission’s final meeting. I would like to thank all those who took part in this process, particularly those who took time to share their views in the consultation and the members of the Commission who worked so diligently over several months, ably assisted by the Appointments Secretaries and by the Appointments and Vocations team at Lambeth Palace. I shall be praying for Bishop Sarah as she prepares to take up this new ministry in the coming months.’

Bishop Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, said: ‘I welcome and commend the nomination of Bishop Sarah as the next Archbishop of Canterbury and invite the churches of the global Anglican Communion to pray for her as she prepares to take up this important ministry. May God grant her wisdom and discernment, as she seeks to listen to Member churches, encourage mutual support, and foster unity.

‘The Anglican Communion Office is fully committed to supporting her ministry as she works with other Provinces and the Instruments of the Anglican Communion. Let us pray that God will pour out His Spirit on the Anglican Communion to boldly share Christ’s transformational love and the hope of the Gospel in today’s world.’

For more information

Visit the website for the Anglican Communion Office

Visit the website for The Archbishop of Canterbury

Scanning is becoming easier

Scanning is becoming easier. The earliest scans in this archive were made in 2008 using a flatbed scanner. 18,000 individual JPEGs were later inserted into PDF files for posting. By 2013, when scanning at the Anglican Centre in Rome, I was able to use a photocopier directly to create a PDF, but these scans had only 200 dpi resolution and no colour or lighting correction.

In 2016, I used a DSLR camera in the Lambeth Palace Library to photograph 1,200 pages of documents. These later needed to be cropped and inserted into PDFs; however, the JPEGs were of high quality, and colour correction was a little easier. The quality was sufficient for the new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to produce some full-text, but there was significant proofreading required.

In 2019, I spent a weekend at the Anglican Centre in Rome, where I experimented with Adobe Scan on a tablet. Adobe Scan includes automatic lighting and colour correction, deskewing, OCR, and PDF creation. The only problem was that it took much longer to scan each document and to transfer it to my backup disk.

In 2024, I scanned numerous documents at the Anglican Communion Office using a Toshiba photocopier onto a flash drive. I scanned at 600 dpi in black and white, directly to PDF. In many cases, the documents could be fed through the sheet feeder, allowing scans of many double-sided pages quickly. The Toshiba scanning algorithm adjusts lighting better than Adobe or any of the earlier scanning techniques. Toshiba can also include OCR during the same scan, but their OCR is not as advanced as Adobe Acrobat.

I am now loading each PDF in Acrobat Pro, and then using the Compress features to optimise, deskew, OCR, and compress the files. It only takes a few moments, even for long documents. Hopefully, this will make the PDF texts easier to search using online tools such as Google. It does make it easier to copy text from these documents, although proofreading is always necessary, especially for older documents using unfamiliar fonts.

Pope reaffirms commitment to ecumenical, interreligious dialogue

During a special audience with religious leaders who came to Rome for the inauguration of his papal ministry, Pope Leo XIV vowed to continue working towards Christian unity and promoting dialogue among all religions.

“Now is the time for dialogue and building bridges,” the pope said May 19 as he met with the leaders in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace.

His guests included Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, and Catholicos Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as Anglican, Methodist, and Lutheran leaders. Representatives of the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain communities also attended.

Priority to Seek ‘Full’ Communion

“As bishop of Rome,” Pope Leo told them, “I consider one of my priorities to be that of seeking the reestablishment of full and visible communion among all those who profess the same faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Full Christian unity must be based on unity in faith, he said, noting how his election took place in the year that Christians are celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which “represents a milestone in the formulation of the Creed shared by all churches and ecclesial communities.”

The late Pope Francis had been planning to travel to Iznik, Turkey, site of the ancient city of Nicaea, to commemorate the anniversary with Patriarch Bartholomew. A Vatican official said planning is underway for Pope Leo to make the trip.

“Unity has always been a constant concern of mine,” the new pope told his guests, pointing to the motto he chose when he became a bishop in 2014: “‘In Illo uno unum,’ an expression of St. Augustine of Hippo that reminds us how we, too, although we are many, ‘in the One — that is Christ — we are one.’”

‘Pray, Work Together to Reach Goal’

Pope Leo told the Christian leaders that “the more faithful and obedient we are” to Jesus, “the more united we are among ourselves. We Christians, then, are all called to pray and work together to reach this goal, step by step, which is and remains the work of the Holy Spirit.”

“As bishop of Rome,” he said, “I consider one of my priorities to be that of seeking the reestablishment of full and visible communion among all those who profess the same faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

“Aware, moreover, that synodality and ecumenism are closely linked, I would like to assure you of my intention to continue Pope Francis’ commitment to promoting the synodal nature of the Catholic Church and developing new and concrete forms for an ever stronger synodality in ecumenical relations,” he said.

Pope Francis and many ecumenical leaders focused on how synodality — literally “walking together,” listening to one another and valuing the gifts and talents of all — could help Christians see how much they have in common and how they must work together to bring the Gospel to world.

Everyone Is a Child of God

Pope Leo also praised Pope Francis’ emphasis on how, since everyone is a child of God, they are brothers and sisters to each other.

“The witness of our fraternity, which I hope we will be able to show with effective gestures, will certainly contribute to building a more peaceful world, something that all men and women of goodwill desire in their hearts,” the pope told the religious leaders.

“In a world wounded by violence and conflict,” he said, “each of the communities represented here brings its own contribution of wisdom, compassion and commitment to the good of humanity and the preservation of our common home.”

Working together “and free from ideological and political conditioning,” he said, “we can be effective in saying ‘no’ to war and ‘yes’ to peace, ‘no’ to the arms race and ‘yes’ to disarmament, ‘no’ to an economy that impoverishes peoples and the Earth and ‘yes’ to integral development.”

Jewish and Muslim Representatives

Pope Leo had special words of gratitude for the Jewish and Muslim representatives and pledged to continue the dialogue that began with their communities 60 years ago with the publication of the Second Vatican Council’s document, “Nostra Aetate,” on relations with other religions.

The document, the pope said, “emphasises the greatness of the spiritual heritage shared by Christians and Jews, encouraging mutual knowledge and esteem.”

“The theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains ever important and close to my heart,” he said. “Even in these difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, it is necessary to continue the momentum of this precious dialogue of ours.”

The “growing commitment to dialogue and fraternity” between Christians and Muslims is also important, he said. The dialogue, “based on mutual respect and freedom of conscience, is a solid foundation for building bridges between our communities.”

Through papal funeral, Christ proclaimed living Saviour for all

Bishop Philip Freier was Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia from 2006 until February 2025.

I thought that travelling to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait was a big trip to make when I responded to Bishop Keith Joseph’s invitation to preside at the Easter services at the Old Cathedral of All Souls and St Bartholomew this year. Little did I realise that just a few days after Easter I would receive a request from the Anglican Communion Office to be part of the Anglican representation at Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome the following weekend.

Planning had to proceed quickly, and I flew out on the Wednesday on flight legs that added up to around 24 hours in the air before arriving in Rome on the Thursday afternoon. Our delegation, led by the Primate of Brazil, Archbishop Marinez Bassotto, assembled at the Anglican Centre, Rome before we were taken to St Peter’s Basilica to pray where Pope Francis’ body lay in state in an open coffin.

From my discussions with people and our group as we’d gathered at the airport, I could sense the mix of solemnity and celebration as people remembered Pope Francis and anticipated his funeral. I met Pope Francis 10 years ago when on a visit to the Anglican Centre in Rome I attended one of the regular Wednesday papal audiences in St Peter’s Square, along with Archbishop David Moxon, the then Director of the ACR.

I was introduced to the Pope, and he was keen to ask for my prayer. I thought that this was a humble response from someone who had such a public and international role. It has certainly given all the members of ARCIC III, the international theological dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics that I co-chair, encouragement to carry out our work in the knowledge that the leaders of our respective Communions approach the hurts and divisions of the past as wounds to be healed and to treat them as ones that can be overcome by love and shared Christian discipleship.

The ARCIC meeting that was intended to be hosted in Melbourne this month needed to be deferred to October on account of the death of the Pope and the then subsequent vacancy in the See of Rome. So significant is the sense that we carry out our work on behalf of the whole church that the period of sede vacante puts such discussions on hold. This was even more significant since this was the first time since 1691 that both sees of Rome and Canterbury had been vacant at the same time.

I was glad that our group that gathered to represent the Anglican Communion included the chair and deputy chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, the General Secretary of the Communion, the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London amongst others. I was also pleased we could be joined by the new Director of the ACR, Bishop Anthony Ball and the Bishop in Europe who co-chairs IARCCUM, an international enactment of journeying together between Catholic and Anglican pairs of bishops across many regions and nations.

The scene from our seats on the dais level of St Peter’s Square was truly breathtaking. To our right were crowds of people that seemed to defy numbering, filling the square and as far down the Via Della Conciliazione as the eye could see. Ahead of us international leaders, Monarchs, Prime Ministers and Presidents filed in and took their places. Immediately to our left were the bishops and cardinals of the Catholic Church, I was glad to speak with Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth and Bishop Joe Caddy of Cairns as the crowds dispersed after the funeral. Swiss Guards still wearing their Medici coloured uniforms of blue, yellow and red were in ceremonial attendance and the whole atmosphere was electric for the duration of the requiem Eucharist. The committal prayers were led by the eastern-rite Catholic prelates including Cardinal Mykola Bychok of Melbourne.

All this was on account of the life and death of just one person, Pope Francis. Certainly, he held the highest office in the Catholic Church, but I think foremost in the hearts of many in attendance, there was a recognition that he lived and spoke Christ’s love and mercy. Thankfulness to our Lord was evident in the responses of the many people with whom I spoke. I was glad to see a Christian man so amazingly honoured and through that Christ proclaimed as a living Saviour for all people and in all times.

A Statement from the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See

Together with our Roman Catholic siblings and other Christians in Rome and around the world, Anglicans enthusiastically, welcome the ‘gaudium magnum’ announced yesterday from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica: the election of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV as the 267th Bishop of Rome.

We offer our heartfelt prayers and support as the new Holy Father begins his singular Petrine ministry in service of the global Church, particularly in this age of war, poverty, mass migration, division and distrust, in which those who suffer most are the innocent and most vulnerable among us. We are encouraged by the first words of his papacy: ‘La pace sia con tutti voi! [Peace be with you all!] This is the peace of the Risen Christ: a disarmed and disarming peace, a humble and preserving peace. It comes from God – God, who loves all of us, without any limits or conditions.’

Giving thanks for his wide international pastoral experience and dedication to social justice, we are grateful for Pope Leo’s call! for a Church of bridgebuilders. Such a vision has motivated the mission and ministry of the Anglican Centre in Rome for nearly 60 years. This call serves to renew our commitment to our long-standing and friendly collaboration with the Catholic Church, building bridges through ecumenical dialogue towards that full, visible unity to which Christ calls us.

As we begin this new chapter in our ecumenical mission in Rome, I am excited for the journey ahead, embracing and affirming the words of Pope Leo XIV: ‘Therefore, without fear, united, hand in hand with God and with one another, let us go forward!’

Bishop Anthony Ball
9th May, 2025

Biography of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost

Prior to his election as Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Here is the biography of the 267th Bishop of Rome.

The first Augustinian Pope, Leo XIV is the second Roman Pontiff – after Pope Francis – from the Americas. Unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, however, the 69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost is from the northern part of the continent, though he spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected head of the Augustinians for two consecutive terms.

First Augustinian Pope

The new Bishop of Rome was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy.

On September 1 of the same year, Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago, and made his first profession on September 2, 1978. On August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows.

The future Pontiff received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At the age of 27, he was sent by his superiors to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).

In Rome, he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica by Archbishop Jean Jadot, then pro-president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, which later became the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and then the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

Prevost obtained his licentiate in 1984 and the following year, while preparing his doctoral thesis, was sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, Piura, Peru (1985–1986). In 1987, he defended his doctoral thesis on “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine” and was appointed vocation director and missions director of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Olympia Fields, Illinois (USA).

Mission in Peru

The following year, he joined the mission in Trujillo, also in Peru, as director of the joint formation project for Augustinian candidates from the vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos, and Apurímac.

Over the course of eleven years, he served as prior of the community (1988–1992), formation director (1988–1998), and instructor for professed members (1992–1998), and in the Archdiocese of Trujillo as judicial vicar (1989–1998) and professor of Canon Law, Patristics, and Moral Theology at the Major Seminary “San Carlos y San Marcelo.” At the same time, he was also entrusted with the pastoral care of Our Lady Mother of the Church, later established as the parish of Saint Rita (1988–1999), in a poor suburb of the city, and was parish administrator of Our Lady of Monserrat from 1992 to 1999.

In 1999, he was elected Provincial Prior of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Chicago, and two and a half years later, the ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, elected him as Prior General, confirming him in 2007 for a second term.

In October 2013, he returned to his Augustinian Province in Chicago, serving as director of formation at the Saint Augustine Convent, first councilor, and provincial vicar—roles he held until Pope Francis appointed him on November 3, 2014, as Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo, elevating him to the episcopal dignity as Titular Bishop of Sufar.

He entered the Diocese on November 7, in the presence of Apostolic Nuncio James Patrick Green, who ordained him Bishop just over a month later, on December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the Cathedral of Saint Mary.

His episcopal motto is “In Illo uno unum”—words pronounced by Saint Augustine in a sermon on Psalm 127 to explain that “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”

Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru,  from 2015 to 2023

On September 26, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis. In March 2018, he was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, where he also served as a member of the Economic Council and president of the Commission for Culture and Education.

In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy (July 13, 2019), and in 2020, a member of the Congregation for Bishops (November 21). Meanwhile, on April 15, 2020, he was also appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Callao.

Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops

On January 30, 2023, the Pope called him to Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, promoting him to the rank of Archbishop.

Created Cardinal in 2024

Pope Francis created him Cardinal in the Consistory of September 30 that year and  assigned him the Diaconate of Saint Monica. He officially took possession of it on January 28, 2024.

As head of the Dicastery, he participated in the Pope’s most recent Apostolic Journeys and in both the first and second sessions of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, held in Rome from October 4 to 29, 2023, and from October 2 to 27, 2024, respectively.

Meanwhile, on October 4, 2023, Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Dicasteries for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches), for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Eastern Churches, for the Clergy, for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, for Culture and Education, for Legislative Texts, and of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State.

Finally, on February 6 of this year, the Argentine Pope promoted him to the Order of Bishops, granting him the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.

Three days later, on February 9, he celebrated the Mass presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, the second major event of the Holy Year of Hope.

During the most recent hospitalization of his predecessor at the “Gemelli” hospital, Prevost presided over the Rosary for Pope Francis’s health in Saint Peter’s Square on March 3.

A message of encouragement from the Secretary General on the election of Pope Leo XIV

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Rt Revd Anthony Poggo, has shared a message of encouragement on the election of Pope Leo XIV. The statement reads:

With great joy, we welcome the election and appointment of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Pope and Bishop of Rome.

On behalf of the worldwide Anglican Communion, we share our prayers, celebration and encouragement as His Holiness takes up his global ministry in service of the Church.

May he lead with faithfulness, vision and courage, embodying the Christian values of peace and justice in service of mission and evangelisation.

At this point in history, the world and the Church face significant challenges. Crises of mass migration, war, poverty and division press upon us all. As ever, the most innocent and vulnerable in our societies suffer most severely.

We welcome Pope Leo’s commitment to building bridges through dialogue, and his summons to all the faithful to visible unity without fear.

The Anglican Communion remains committed to our collaboration with the Catholic Church in the friendship of Jesus, sustained by our formal ecumenical institutions and the pioneering ministry of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the International Anglican–Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) help us to think and grow together. Anglicans and Roman Catholics look to these commissions — and the friendships that they enable —  in the spirit of Saint Augustine’s summons to the Communion of Love, founded in the whole Christ.

We pray that God will grant Pope Leo the strength to lead wisely and we assure him of our open arms in return. May we meet the Lord together again, as he comes to us and bids us not to be afraid (John 6:20).

Amen

WCC congratulates Pope Leo XIV

The World Council of Churches (WCC) extended ecumenical greetings to Pope Leo XIV and an assurance of continuing engagement with the Roman Catholic Church in the era of its new pontiff.

WCC moderator of the central committee, Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, expressed joy and hope. “As successor of Pope Francis, he will move in a strong tradition,” said Bedford-Strohm. “I expect him to continue Pope Francis’ witness of love towards all people, especially those most vulnerable, and of love for nonhuman creation.”

Bedford-Strohm noted that a strong global voice for human dignity and overcoming violence is urgently needed. “I am confident that the new pope will be such a strong voice,” he said. “As the WCC, we work together with the Roman Catholic Church with great mutual friendship and appreciation. I am looking forward to many encounters both with the new pope and all others who strive for a visible unity at the churches in reconciled diversity.”

WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay said that the WCC global fellowship gives thanks to God that the Roman Catholic Church has, through its cardinals, concluded the process of choosing a new pope. “We recognise that this is no easy task and one that requires prayer, discernment, and wisdom to elect such a spiritual leader who is, indeed, not merely limited to the Roman Catholic Church but looked upon by the world for wisdom and leadership,” said Pillay. “We congratulate the new pope and pray God’s blessings, health, strength, and wisdom upon him as he assumes this holy office.”

Pillay added: “We trust that he would continue to strengthen ecumenical collaboration, Christian unity, justice and peace in the world. We live in a world of multiple crises; together we can make a difference through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. The WCC remains committed to praying, walking, and working together with the Roman Catholic Church, all Christians, different faiths, and all people of goodwill in our endeavour to bring God’s peace and love on earth.”

The Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC, but the instrument of the Joint Working Group, established in 1965, has fostered close cooperation. Delegates and observers are exchanged at the time of major meetings, and the Catholic Church is formally represented in such WCC-administered bodies as the Faith and Order Commission and the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.

Bishop Anthony Ball commissioned as the director of the Anglican Centre in Rome in Eucharist service

A Holy Eucharist service was held in Rome to mark the commissioning of the Rt Revd Anthony Ball as the director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. It was held on May 6, 2025.

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 Catholic Church and advancing shared ecumenical priorities.

As director, Bishop Anthony Ball will lead the Centre alongside his role as the representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy See, playing a key role in the interface between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church.

The commissioning service gathered people of many Christian traditions in the chapel of Saint Augustine of Canterbury at the Anglican Centre in Rome. Bishop Anthony reflected on the service, observing that “Perhaps inevitably, I have a sense of trepidation coming into the role at such a time. The service helped dispel some of that – it felt like a family coming together to encourage one of their own.”

During the service, the Most Revd Flavio Pace, of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, offered a greeting on behalf of the Holy See and was followed by representatives of other groups with which the Centre works.  The Chairman of the Governors of the Centre, The Rt Revd Michael Burrows of the Diocese of Tuam, Limerick, and Killaloe, gave the address.

Bishop Michael Burrows stated in his sermon, “We heard much at the papal funeral about the importance of building bridges rather than walls. […] In a very special way, the Director of this Centre builds and reinforces bridges on behalf of all Anglicans between Canterbury and Rome […] and he’s just the person to make the very best and most exciting use of a genuinely, strangely, blank canvas.”

Commenting on the position he will be taking up, Bishop Anthony told the Anglican Communion News Service, “I carry my many ideas, hopes, and dreams for the future into my position at the Anglican Centre in Rome. I feel excited now to have been commissioned and to start on this journey, on this pilgrimage, with a family around me.”

Bishop Anthony began a period of transition in January this year when his predecessor, Archbishop Ian Earnest, stepped down. During this time, he was instrumental in assisting the Anglican Communion delegation through the events of Pope Francis’ funeral last month. At the time of the Pope’s death, he stated, “The Anglican Centre in Rome and those we represent have particular cause to be grateful for his generosity of spirit and commitment to fostering greater unity and collaboration.” Bishop Anthony will be moving to live full-time in Rome later in the year as this transitional period concludes.

About Bishop Anthony Ball

Bishop Anthony was born in Southern Africa and joined the [UK] Diplomatic Service after studying at the University of Durham. Whilst posted with the British Embassy in Damascus, he was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the heads of the Orthodox Churches in Syria and Lebanon. He has held positions in the Middle East, Spain, Egypt, and England, many of which involved responsibility for ecumenical relationships.

He served for a time at Lambeth Palace, where he held responsibility for advising on Anglican Communion, ecumenical, interreligious, and international relations before serving as the Archbishop’s Chaplain. Bishop Anthony had been 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.

In his current role at Westminster Abbey, he has oversight of hospitality and welcome to visitors and pilgrims and responsibility for pastoral care as well as being the lead clergy person for the Abbey’s interreligious relationships. Previously, he held roles of Canon Rector, Rector of St Margaret’s Church, Almoner, and Sub-Dean. Before coming to the Abbey, he was Rector of Worth, Pound Hill, and Maidenbower in West Sussex, also holding the role of Anglican Chaplain at Worth School.

Bishop Anthony has held several roles in the charity and education sectors, including Chair of Trustees of the Christian development charity ‘Embrace the Middle East’; the Chair of Governors of Westminster City School; a Trustee of the United Westminster and Grey Coat Foundation; a Trustee of the Christian-Muslim Forum; and Co-Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews’ Central London Branch. He currently chairs the Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association and serves on the UK Advisory Board of the Abraham Initiatives.

Read about the work of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

11,000 people take part in consultations for the next Archbishop of Canterbury

More than 11,000 people have participated in the consultations for the next Archbishop of Canterbury – carried out online, by post and in person between February and March this year.

The public consultation was a unique opportunity to influence the future of leadership within the Church, helping to discern the gifts, skills and qualities required in the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury to meet the needs of the Church today and in the years to come.

The themes that emerge through this consultation will sit alongside the ‘Statement of Needs’ produced by the Diocese of Canterbury, as well as other information provided by the National Church and Anglican Communion. This information will inform the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission of the needs of the mission of the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion.

At a glance

1. Secretaries’ Consultations – the Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments and the Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary met with over 350 individuals during the consultation period, including representatives of other Christian traditions and non-Christian traditions, parliamentarians, leaders from public life, and those who minister, work and worship across the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.
2. Children and Young People Consultations – over 1,200 children and young people participated in consultations conducted by the National Society for Education and the Appointments Secretaries.
3. Online Public Consultations – the online consultation form received over 9,600 responses.
4. Written Public Consultations – over 160 pieces of written correspondence (e.g. emails and letters) were received.

Bishop voices ‘sadness’ at continuing eucharistic separation

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The fact that Anglicans and Catholics are not able to receive the Eucharist together yet is a matter of sadness,” the Bishop of Ossory Niall Coll said at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

In his homily at an Anglican Eucharist in St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny last weekend, Bishop Coll said the Church of Ireland liturgy, as well as his attendance at a meeting of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission last year, were the “most moving experiences” of spiritual communion for him.

He told the congregation he hoped they would be “a further impetus to continue our ecumenical journey together so that we might one day break bread together around the same altar”.

Read the rest of this article in The Tablet

Anglican Communion starts ‘long process of resolution’

The Anglican Communion is moving “from a season of raw and antagonistic division to one of reckoning with what will likely be a long process of resolution”, the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) has said.

The body met in Kuala Lumpur from 6 to 12 December, and released a communiqué on 18 December in which it wrote that members had “wrestled” with their divisions, and felt that “we may now be able to face our theological differences and associated fractures more productively, as we seek responsible and creative ways to remain together, albeit to varying degrees.”

The body has an advisory position in the Communion, and is formed of 18 members, drawn from six continents. About two-thirds of the members come from countries considered to be part of the global South.

Read the rest of this article in Church Times

IASCUFO Communiqué: ‘Facing our theological differences more productively’

A meeting of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) gathered in Kuala Lumpur from 6-12 December. Hosted by the Right Revd Steven Abbarow and the Diocese of West Malaysia, the meeting was also attended by the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Right Revd Anthony Poggo.

IASCUFO is supported by the Anglican Communion Office and chaired by the Right Revd Dr Graham Tomlin of the Church of England. It is one of the main places where the Anglican Communion does its theological and ecclesiological reflection. Its membership is composed of a diverse group from across the Anglican Communion, incorporating a range of viewpoints from Africa, Asia, South and North America, Europe, and Australia.

IASCUFO’s Kuala Lumpur gathering followed the recent publication of the paper The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion on December 6, 2024. They are the result of a long-term piece of work, commissioned at the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-18) in 2023 to explore “structure and decision-making to help address [our] differences in the Anglican Communion.”  A draft of the paper was discussed at the Primates’ meeting in April 2024, and will be considered at the 19^th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 2026.

• Read the full IASCUFO Communiqué 2024
• Read the news announcement about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals
• Learn more about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals

During the meeting, the Commission discussed plans to aid the reception of The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals around the Anglican Communion. A communiqué summarising the meeting and its hopes reports that the Commission “sensed that the Communion may be moving from a season of raw and antagonistic division to one of reckoning with what will likely be a long process of resolution. We may now be able to face our theological differences and associated fractures more productively, as we seek responsible and creative ways to remain together, albeit to varying degrees.”

The communiqué goes on to say that “IASCUFO’s entire membership, which includes members of Churches of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), welcomes the GSFA’s commitment to stay within the Anglican Communion. We value its voluntary intensification of fellowship within the Communion as a potential source of renewal and fresh missional energy, the fruits of which may inspire others (see Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, §§8, 56, 68-69). Despite our divisions, the Anglican Communion needs to find ways for the contribution of the GSFA to be more fully recognised and received within its wider life and mission.”

Following the meeting, Bishop Tomlin said: “We give thanks for the work that we have done together and that we are still engaged in, seeking common ground on ways forward in handling differences within our common life as Anglicans. Our discussions have been an opportunity for learning from one another, as well as wrestling with challenging questions around Anglican identity and unity. It is our heartfelt prayer that the Holy Spirit will use the Nairobi-Cairo proposals to build bridges across our divisions, to strengthen our life in Christ together, in order to serve the mission God has called us to in his world.”

In a recent comment about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, Bishop Poggo said: “The Anglican Consultative Council commissioned IASCUFO’s work in 2023. The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals are the result of international collaboration, representing diverse voices from around the Communion. They are offered to strengthen our global Anglican family. I pray that they will be received with prayerful consideration in the months ahead.”

Living Ecumenism: Communion in Mission | One Body

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.

Mississauga Consultation

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.

Read the rest of this article in the One Body blog on Salt+Light Media