Pope Leo XIV received in audience on the morning of this March 2 Mons. David Arthur Waller, ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and Mons. Steven Joseph Lopes, ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, as reported by the Holy See Press Office.
As is customary, the content of the meetings is not detailed, as they are part of the Pontiff’s ordinary audience agenda.
Structures erected following Anglicanorum coetibus
The ordinariates were erected following the promulgation in 2009 of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, through which Benedict XVI established a specific canonical structure to welcome groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, preserving elements of their liturgical and spiritual heritage.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was erected on January 15, 2011. It has jurisdiction over Anglican faithful residing in England and Wales—with some communities also in Scotland—who formally request registration. Since April 29, 2024, the ordinary is Mons. David Arthur Waller. According to data from 2021, the ordinariate consists of approximately 1,950 baptized, 97 priests, and 36 parishes.
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter was erected on January 1, 2012, and extends its jurisdiction to former Anglican faithful in the United States and Canada. Its principal church is Our Lady of Walsingham, in Houston, elevated to the rank of cathedral with the appointment of the first ordinary with episcopal dignity. Since November 24, 2015, the ordinary is Bishop Steven Joseph Lopes. In 2023, it had 12,031 baptized, 79 priests, and 40 parishes.
And there is a third Ordinariate, that of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, erected on June 15, 2012, in Australia and which also has parishes in Japan. The see is currently vacant and, since July 1, 2023, Mons. Anthony Randazzo—Bishop of Broken Bay—acts as apostolic administrator. According to the latest statistics, the ordinariate gathered approximately 1,200 baptized, 17 priests, and 26 parishes.
Hundreds of Anglican clerics received since 1992
The phenomenon of the incorporation of Anglican clerics into the Catholic Church predates the creation of the ordinariates. A study prepared by the St Barnabas Society and disseminated in 2025 indicates that since 1992—the year in which the General Synod of the Church of England approved the ordination of women priests—around 700 Anglican clerics and members of religious orders from England, Wales, and Scotland have been received into the Catholic Church. Among them are at least 16 former Anglican bishops.
The report indicates that, between 1992 and 2024, former Anglican clerics represented approximately one-third of all Catholic priestly ordinations in England and Wales during that period.
According to the study’s authors, two moments of significant increase were recorded: in the mid-1990s, following the introduction of women’s ordination in the Church of England, and starting from the creation of the personal ordinariates in 2009, which facilitated the incorporation of communities with Anglican heritage.