THE next director of the Anglican Centre in Rome is to be the Bishop of North Africa, the Rt Revd Anthony Ball, it was announced last week.
Bishop Ball has been the Bishop of the diocese of North Africa, in the Province of Alexandria (News, 15 December 2023), since the start of this year. He was previously an Assistant Bishop in the diocese of Egypt, having been consecrated in 2021 (News, 5 November 2021).
The Anglican Centre in Rome was founded in 1966, after a meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI marked the improvement of relations between the Anglican Churches and the Vatican.
The director of the centre — currently the former Archbishop of the Indian Ocean, the Most Revd Ian Ernest — also serves as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See.
Bishop Ball is also Canon Steward of Westminster Abbey and Archdeacon of Westminster, with responsibility for interfaith relationships and welcoming visitors and pilgrims.
A former diplomat, serving in the Middle East and Spain, he was ordained priest in 2001, and combined working for the Foreign Office with chaplaincy in Madrid and Damascus.
In 2005, he joined the team at Lambeth Palace, working on international, ecumenical, and Anglican Communion affairs, and then serving as Archbishop’s Chaplain, during Lord Williams’s tenure.
From 2011 to 2016, he was Rector of St Nicholas’s, Worth, in West Sussex, and has been a trustee of several ecumenical and educational charities.
On Monday, Bishop Ball said: “As a long-time supporter of the Anglican Centre in Rome, I am hugely excited at the prospect of contributing to its leadership and building on the work of Archbishop Ian Ernest and his predecessors.
“I look forward to developing further the connections and collaboration with institutions, organisations, and all those, within our Communion and beyond, committed to education, pilgrimage, encounter, and deepening mutual understanding.”
The secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, the Rt Revd Anthony Poggo, described the Anglican Centre as a “unique institution in the Anglican Communion, given to embodying the spirit and commitments of ecumenism”.
A statement released by the Anglican Communion Office said that Archbishop Ernest was expected to step down at the end of January, with a transition period of a few months, while Bishop Ball takes up his new responsibilities in Rome, and concludes those of his current positions.