Anglican Churches (which includes Episcopalians and others) have been recognised by the Vatican as being potentially “in plena communione cum Ecclesia catholica” (full communion – cf. Canon 8). If ratified within Anglicanism, this leads to shared governance within the new synodal framework implemented by Pope Francis. Other churches and denominations are likely to be brought into this ground-breaking development. This announcement is part of the commemoration of the 17 Centuries since the agreement at the Council of Nicaea (325 AD).
Pope Francis has issued an apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Stultus Aprilis, developing the teaching of Vatican II about separated brethren and subsidiarity (making decisions at the lowest appropriate level). It is applying the bedding in of his program of synodality with his announcement on 15 March, last month, of a three-year implementation phase for the Synod on Synodality, which will culminate in a Church-wide meeting in Rome in October 2028.
It is anticipated that Anglican, Episcopalian, and other churches will take part fully in this “post-synodal Ecclesial Assembly in 2028”. The Anglican Communion is not a single church, but a communion of 42 member churches (also called provinces) and five other national or local churches known as Extra Provincials, spread across the globe. Each province will make decisions in response to the apostolic constitution, hopefully ratifying the uniting process and adding any further points for possible improvements. It is anticipated that most, if not all, provinces will not only be represented but fully participating at the October 2028 meeting in Rome.
The process of local consultation and decision making is part of the DNA of Anglicanism. Receptive ecumenism is the newer approach of receiving what is good, one from the other, in ecumenical dialogue. Roman Catholicism’s implementation of synodality is part of the trajectory (similar to Anglicanism’s Reformation history) of vernacular liturgy, encouraging access to the Bible for all, and so forth.
Recognising the validity of sacraments has been a particularly difficult roadblock in the light of Apostolicae curae apostolic letter, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be “absolutely null and utterly void”. Noting the response in 1897 by the Anglican Archbishops of England Saepius officio, the new apostolic constitution highlights the changes to the Roman Catholic ordinal since Vatican II, changes not dissimilar to some critiqued in Apostolicae curae, so much so that there are people who call themselves Catholics but do not accept the validity of post-Vatican II sacraments. Secondly, the constitution underscores the similarity, now, of renewed ordination rites between Roman Catholic and Anglican/Episcopalian. And thirdly, the constitution calls attention to the full communion between Old Catholics and Anglicans (more on this below). There was no doubt about Old Catholic orders in 1896, and that Church has been fully involved in Anglican ordinations for nearly a century.
In providential synchronicity, the Anglican Communion has been moving to a “post-colonial” shake up in which the world’s 85 million Anglicans would no longer be automatically led by the Archbishop of Canterbury (see here, for example). Having the Pope take on this role has been greeted enthusiastically, especially by those Anglicans who have felt disenfranchised by the approaches of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Most Anglicans recognise the Pope as Patriarch of the West (a title reinstated by Pope Francis In the 2024 edition of the Annuario Pontificio). Chairing the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates’ Meeting, and calling the Lambeth Conference can be a role for the Pope as Patriarch of the West – or be delegated by him to a rotating Anglican presidency.
Lent is being presented as being a particularly appropriate time to make this announcement. In the spirit of contrition and ongoing conversion, there is acknowledgement of the darker sides of disputes, from the Reformation-time persecutions and executions through to the nineteenth-century fear that accepting the validity of Anglican orders would undermine the effectiveness of the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England, all the way to current controversies, abuse, and lack of inclusivity.
Female priests and bishops have been a particular sticking point. There are many, including within Anglicanism, who question the validity of sacraments presided over by by a woman. The dynamic, in this Francis’ papacy, of stressing the pastoral over the dogmatic has provided three points that finally broke the deadlock. Firstly, although only one bishop is required to validly ordain another bishop, since the agreement at the Council of Nicaea there are always at least three bishops. The convention that will be followed is that at any ordination of a bishop, at least one of the ordaining bishops will be male. Secondly, the apostolic constitution points to the principle of ecclesia supplit (a Latin phrase meaning “the Church supplies” which refers to a principle in canon law where the Church can validate actions or sacraments that might otherwise be considered invalid due to certain circumstances, such as a common error or a probable doubt.) Thirdly, the apostolic constitution highlights that (whether a sacrament is validly administered or not) the desire to receive a sacrament itself communicates the grace of that sacrament.
The Anglican concurrence of this third point is found, for example, in the binding doctrine of New Zealand’s Anglican Prayer Book:
When people who desire to receive the Holy Communion are unable to do so for any other reason, their desire and such prayers as they are able to offer ensure that they do spiritually receive the body and blood of Christ.
A Service of Holy Communion page 729
Old Catholics form a significant component of the announcement. Old Catholicism is a denomination with a complex history which includes retaining bishops and apostolic succession through the Reformation period when Vatican approval of locally-elected bishops was disrupted. Old Catholics and Anglicans began ecumenical discussions in a Bonn Conference in 1874. Old Catholics formally recognised the validity of Anglican orders in 1925. From 1931, Old Catholics began to be in full communion with member churches of the Anglican Communion in a process akin to what is being proposed in the apostolic constitution. The Vatican recognised the validity of Old Catholic sacraments with the difficulties acknowledged since 1996 when the threefold apostolic ministry became open to women (discussed above).
Other churches, communions, and communities look set to follow. This includes the Scandinavian Lutheran churches of the Porvoo Communion, and the India-based Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian and Malabar Independent Syrian churches, as well as the Philippine Independent Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and possibly the Polish National Catholic Church.
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Thanks for sharing these timely developments. This is a first. Let’s hope anglicanorum stultus aprilis gets the attention it deserves.
Thanks, Mark – yes, it’s had a good 5,000 views so far on this site, with additional reactions on social media. Blessings.
You get the prize for the first post that sent me Googling hither and yon this 1st April 2025.
I Paul, take thee Michael…
Is this April Fools?
William, you have followed the links, translated the Latin, and checked the letters starting each section? Blessings.
I had the same response as William. It feels too much to be true.
We live in an era of fake news and morbid headlines, so we almost need to pinch ourselves twice as hard.
Thanks Bosco.
Recognized “stultus” from The Onion and immediately remembered the translation of their motto, “Tu stultus es.”