ARCHBISHOP of the Anglican Church of Melanesia Leonard Dawea is currently in Rome for the 2024 Primates’ Meeting.
Senior archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators of the churches of the Anglican Communion are attending the Primates’ Meeting which started on April 29th.
The meeting is coordinated by the Anglican Centre in Rome for pilgrimage, consultation and meeting with Pope Francis.
A statement from the Anglican Centre in Rome said pilgrimage will be a major feature of the 2024 Primates’ Meeting in which Primates will visit important sites that relate to the first Apostles who made missionary journeys to Rome.
It said this week their pilgrimage was to Tre Fontane (the location of St Paul’s martyrdom) and the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls (the resting place of St Paul).
At Tre Fontane, the primates spent time in prayer and contemplation, visiting the three shrines on the location.
Tradition holds that between AD 64-67 the apostle Paul was beheaded at Tre Fontane by the Emperor Nero, the bounce of his head on the ground causing three fountains to spring forth.
The Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls is one of the four Papal Basilicas in Rome and the second biggest after St Peter’s Basilica.
At St Paul’s, the primates were welcomed by Cardinal James Michael Harvey (the Archpriest of the Basilica), before touring the Basilica and hearing more of its history.
The primates also took part in Vespers for the Feast of St Catherine of Siena, presided by Dom Donato Ogliari, O.S.B., Abbot of the Abbey of St Paul Outside the Walls.
The 2024 Primates’ Meeting will conclude on May 3rd 2024.
