Anglican Primates Enjoy Historic Meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis

Image Source : Vatican News

In a historic meeting, Anglican Communion Primates from around the world have attended an audience with His Holiness 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, His Holiness 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.

Deepening synodality (or journeying together and collaborating as Christian sisters and brothers) has always been an important principle of Primate Meetings, which have been one of the four instruments of the Anglican Communion since 1978.

Primates of the Anglican Communion represent diverse cultural settings and Christian traditions, but through the Primates’ Meeting they come together to discuss shared priorities and concerns and discern ways to cultivate shared wisdom and consensus.

The meeting with the Pope was a time of deep encouragement to the primates. Throughout his reign, Pope Francis has consistently called Christians to prioritise relationships and church unity.

His Eminence Archbishop Justin Welby, The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the Pope’s address and its significance to the Primates and the Anglican Communion, saying it was: “… a most beautiful address around the nature of unity and synodality and of the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church – which took our eyes away from ourselves and lifted them to the faithfulness of God in Jesus Christ and the gift of the Spirit.

“This Primates’ Meeting has been wonderful and has now become a moment in history where we have seen the closeness of our relationship with Rome at the pastoral, the missional and the spiritual level, which demonstrates the progress made over the last half century from real antipathy, to deep bonds of friendship all round the world. I am so grateful to God for the gift of the Spirit who worked among us this morning and has been working among us all week.”

This is the second time this year that His Holiness Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury have joined together in Rome. In January, they commissioned Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops at Vespers in the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls, in an ecumenical partnership during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. During his Homily at Vespers, His Holiness Pope Francis said, ‘First our brothers and sisters, then the structures’ (January 25)…

This news was originally published on the Facebook page of the Anglican Communion News Service.