In a public address, following private talks that last just over 30 minutes, Francis said he was "sure" the Anglican Ordinariate, erected in 2009, would "enable the spiritual, liturgical and pastoral traditions that form the Anglican patrimony to be better known and appreciated in the Catholic world".

It was the first meeting between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rome, after taking up their respective ministries in March within days of each other.

To be in communion with Peter brings a confidence we never knew as Anglicans. Pope Francis understands the pilgrim character of our communities and will be a wise and caring pastor to us.

END

This marks the first time that members who are Ordinariate-bound will be received in Virginia. Fr. Randolph Sly, who is assigned as an Associate Priest for St. Luke’s, serves Chaplain of the SJFOC.

A former Anglican priest archbishop who was ordained a Catholic priest in June of 2012, he celebrates a weekly Anglican Use Mass at 5pm on Sunday at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church.

Late Monday afternoon, Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson returned to the floor of the USCCB as the founding Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, making him a full member of that body of Catholic bishops as he oversees an ecclesial jurisdiction encompassing the entire United States and Canada. He came with a power point program of pictures and accompanying texts to update the entire USCCB membership on how the Ordinariate's establishment and early growth is going.