A NEW Anglican Province has been inaugurated in Chile by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council agreed in September that the diocese, which was formerly part of the Anglican Church of South America, should be a Province in its own right (News, 19 October).

The Iglesia Anglicana de Chile becomes the 40th Province of the Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Welby told the 800 people who gathered in Chile’s capital, Santiago, for the celebratory service that it was “truly a gift of God to be here with you and to experience again the life, the fire, the purpose, and the perseverance of this Church”.

“The Province [of South America] and its new Province are shining lights within the Anglican Communion which will now burn yet more brightly as a challenge and example to the rest of the Communion,” he said.

In interviews with local media before the service, he said that the move recognised that the Church is growing strongly in Chile.

“Chile is a Province that gives love and ministry to the poor and those on the edge of society. And it is one of the great examples in the world of planting new churches,” he said.

During the service, the Bishop of Santiago, the Rt Revd Hector Zavala Muñoz, was installed as Archbishop and Primate of the new Province.

The last Province to be created was that of Sudan in July last year (News, 4 August 2017).