Anglican Communion News Service

Anglican Centre in Rome.

After meeting Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Anglican Centre in Rome, on 17 October, 2000, at 12.30 p.m.

There she was welcomed by Anglican clergy working in Rome, and also by Cardinal Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Presbyterian, Methodist and Waldensian friends of the Anglican Centre, representatives of the Centro Pro Unione, the Community of S. Egidio, the Lay Centre in Rome, leading members of the ecumenical academic community, and members of the Doria Pamphilj family.

For over thirty years the Anglican Centre in Rome has been a window through which Catholics can look at the Anglican Communion and Anglicans can get to know Roman Catholics better at the centre of their Church life. The Anglican Centre works for the world wide Anglican Communion and receives the major part of its financial support from members of the Church of England and the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A., and other Anglicans around the world.

Bishop John Baycroft, the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, also serves as the Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy See. The Centre's library is the largest collection of Anglican literature on mainland Europe. The Centre holds several seminars each year for church leaders, ecumenists and interested laity.

To mark the occasion of the Queen's first visit to the Anglican Centre, Bishop Baycroft presented Her Majesty with a special leather-bound edition of "The Gift of Authority", the most recent document published by the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). In this little book ARCIC proposes steps to bring the Anglican Communion and Roman Catholic Church closer to their goal of full visible unity.

Queen Elizabeth has constitutional links only with the Church of England. The Church of England is one of the member Churches of the Anglican Communion. Anglicans are present in 160 countries of the world. As the world's most famous Anglican, the Queen's presence at the Anglican Centre and her particular wish to meet active ecumenists during her visit to Rome, will encourage not only Anglican and Roman Catholic ecumenists, but also the whole Christian family seeking reconciliation and unity for the sake of the peace and harmony of all humanity.

The Anglican Centre in Rome is housed in beautiful surroundings in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. On the same day as her visit to the Anglican Centre, the Queen honoured Donna Orietta Pogson Doria Pamphilj, head of the noble Doria Pamhilj family of Rome and Genoa with the award of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Donna Orietta, a devout Roman Catholic ecumenist, is vice-president of the Anglican Centre. She is being honoured for her outstanding services to Anglo-Italian Charitable causes, particularly those connected with the church.

Guest List for visit of H.M. Queen Elizabeth, Duke of Edinburgh, Mr Robin Cook... to ACR

1. The Revd Frederick M Bliss SM Professor of Ecumenical Studies, Angelicum
2. The Revd Jonathan Boardman Vicar, All Saints Church
3. The Revd Pieter Bouman Ponte Sant'Angelo Methodist Church
4. Mrs Bouman
5. Mons Charles Burns OBE Retired Vatican Archivist
6. His Eminence Edward, Cardinal Cassidy Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
7. S.E.R. Mons Michael Fitzgerald M.Afr. Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue
8. Mons Timothy Galligan Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
9. The Revd Marco Gnavi Ecumenical Director Vicariate of Rome
10. The Revd Emilius Goulet PSS Rector, Pontifical Canadian College
11. The Revd Nicholas Hudson Vice Rector Venerable English College
12. The Revd David Huie Minister, St Andrew's Church of Scotland, Rome
13. Mrs Margaret Huie
14. The Revd Christopher McElroy Rector, Pontifical Scots College
15. The Revd Thomas Noffke Chairman, Ecumenical English Speaking Clergy of
16. Mrs Noffke Rome
17. The Revd Dr Gerald O'Collins SJ Professor, Pontifical Gregorian University
18. Dott.ssa Donna Orsuto The Vincent Pallotti Institute of the Laity
19. The Revd. Giacomo Puglisi SA Centro Pro Unione
20. Prof. Andrea Riccardi Founder and Director of the Community of S Egidio
21. The Revd Dr Roderick Strange Rector, Pontifical Beda College
22. The Revd Dr Michael Vono Rector, St Paul's-within-the-Walls Episcopal Church
23. Donna Orietta Doria Pamphilj
24. Don Jonathan Doria Pamphilj son
25. Donna Gesine Doria Pamphilj daughter
26. Dott. Massimiliano Floridi son-in-law
27. Sig.ra Carla Farroni Housekeeper, Anglican Centre
28. Sig.ra Marcella Menna Receptionist, Anglican Centre
29. Bishop John Baycroft Director, Anglican Centre in Rome
30. Mrs Joan Baycroft
31. Mrs Geraldine Tomlin Administrator, Anglican Centre in Rome