Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has confirmed the dates of the next Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting.
The Primates’ Meeting brings together the senior archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators of the 42 member churches of the Anglican Communion for “leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation.” The next Primates’ Meeting will take place in Rome, Italy, from April 29 to May 2, 2024.
Welby made the decision after consultations with the Anglican Communion secretary general and the Primates’ Standing Committee – five primates chosen by their regional colleagues to represent them on the Anglican Communion Standing Committee.
The agenda of the meeting will be shaped in consultation with primates, through their regional representatives and the Primates Standing Committee. It will also include reports on some initiatives reviewing the Anglican Communion. This will include an exploration of “issues of structure and decision making in the Anglican Communion” which the Anglican Consultative Council asked the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith and Order to produce when it met in Accra, Ghana, in February. A review of the role of the Standing Committee (requested by the 2016 Primates’ Meeting’) will also take place.
With the launch of Phase 3 of the Lambeth Conference in late May 2023, the updated Lambeth Calls will be published after Pentecost. The Primates’ Meeting will hear updates on the progress of the Lambeth Calls, which will be shared widely through the Phase 3 discussion series being undertaken by the ACO.
“Gathering as Primates from around the Anglican Communion provides an important opportunity for prayer, fellowship, and discernment on some of the important issues impacting our churches and our world today,” Welby said. “I pray this meeting enables our differences and disagreements to be held together in unity and fellowship, and that we keep our gaze fixed on Jesus Christ who calls us to loving service to a world in need. I look forward to this time for dialogue and learning from one another’s contexts, as together we seek to be faithful witnesses to Christ around the Communion.”
