The Primates’ Meeting 2024
Written by G Njuguna on May 1, 2024
The Primates’ Meeting 2024 will gather in Rome between April 26–May 3, hosted by The Anglican Centre in Rome.
Primates will meet for Bible study, prayer, discussion and pilgrimage, visiting Holy sites in Rome.
Bible Studies will be on the Book of Acts, focussing on leadership and what it means to share together in joint mission and witness.
Pilgrimage visits will include St Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls (where St Paul the Apostle is buried), besides visits to Tre Fontane, Santa Maria in Trastevere, and the Community of Sant’Egidio.
In the first gathering of Anglican primates to be held in Rome, the primates’ programme will include a meeting with Pope Francis and conversation with Cardinal Grech about the meaning and promise of synodality for the whole Church.
The primates’ agenda will explore matters of common concern. The Primates’ Standing Committee consulted on the agenda in their regions. The finalised agenda will be agreed by the primates at the start of the meeting.
Primates will consider a draft paper of IASCUFO concerning questions of structure and decision-making in the Anglican Communion, which the Anglican Consultative Council commissioned at its meeting in 2023.
The Anglican Centre in Rome
The Primates’ Meeting will be hosted by Archbishop Ian Ernest at the Anglican Centre in Rome. The centre works with Anglican Communion and Vatican offices on joint projects for education, ecumenism, and shared mission, and cultivates friendship between Anglicans and Catholics to deepen our communion.
It seeks to be the living reality of the Communion’s commitment to the full visible unity of the Church, working collaboratively with all Christians for justice and peace in the world. Archbishop Ian Ernest is The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Personal Representative to the Holy See and Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.
What is the Primates’ Meeting?
As one of the ‘Instruments’ of the Anglican Communion, the Primates’ Meeting gathers the senior bishops, archbishops, and moderators of the member churches of the Communion every two years. The meetings are planned by the regional primates of the Communion who serve on the Primates’ Standing Committee.
The meetings include prayer, conversation, Bible study, and fellowship, and provide the primates an opportunity to speak words of encouragement, challenge, and direction to their own churches and to the Communion.
Since its establishment in 1978 by then-Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan, the Primates’ Meeting has coordinated closely with both the Anglican Consultative Council and the Lambeth Conference.
There are four ‘Instruments’ of the Anglican Communion that work together to order and articulate the shared life and mission of member churches. They are the Primates’ Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Lambeth Conference, and The Archbishop of Canterbury.
