You are invited to a special webinar “Experiences of the Fraternal Delegates at the Synod on Synodality” on Monday, 20 January at 14:00/2:00 PM (Rome). Listen to six fraternal delegates to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, called the Synod on Synodality, share their experiences, stories, and insights during this webinar to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Date: Monday, 20 January 2025 Time: 14:00/2:00 PM (Rome)
Speakers for the webinar are:
H.Em. Metropolitan Job (Getcha) of Pisidia from the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park from the World Methodist Council
H.Em. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian from the Armenian Apostolic Church
Dr. Elizabeth Newman from the Baptist World Alliance
Rev. Dr. Opoku Onyinah from the Pentecostal World Fellowship
Rev. Dr. Hanns Lessing from the World Communion of Reformed Churches
The event is free and open to the public and will be held in English.
The webinar is sponsored by the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, Legation of the Armenian Church to the Holy See, Anglican Centre in Rome, and Reformed Churches Ecumenical Office in Rome.
The World Methodist Council wishes you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! May the light of the star lead you to the Christ-child this Christmas. Bishop Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett, president of the World Methodist Council, and the Rev. Dr. Reynaldo Ferreira Leao Neto, general secretary of the World Methodist Council, bring Christmas greetings from Wesley’s Chapel in London.
The Methodist Ecumenical Office is the Rome representation office of the World Methodist Council.
ROME (MEOR) – The president of the World Methodist Council Bishop Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett and WMC general secretary Rev. Dr. Reynaldo Ferreira Leao Neto met Pope Francis in private audience on Monday, 16 December 2024. They were accompanied by the Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome. Cardinal Kurt Koch and Fr. Martin Browne OSB from the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Rev. Lee Padgett were also in attendance.
In welcoming Bishop Wallace-Padgett and Dr. Neto, Pope Francis said, “for a long time, Methodists and Catholics were estranged and wary of each other. Today, however, we can thank God, that for almost 60 years, we have been progressing together in reciprocal knowledge, understanding, and love.”
Pope Francis addressing the delegation from the World Methodist Council in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on 16 December 2024. Photo by Vatican Media.
Pope Francis continued, saying, “opening ourselves to one another has brought us closer and made us realize that reconciliation is a task of the heart. When the Heart of the Lord Jesus touches our hearts, he transforms us. This is how our communities will be able to unite their differing minds and wills in order to let themselves be guided by the Spirit as brothers and sisters.”
Bishop Wallace-Padgett responded to Pope Francis by thanking him for the warm welcome. She remarked that Catholics and Methodists share a common faith in Jesus Christ and are called to work together. She reminded Pope Francis of the commitment of the World Methodist Council to migrants and refugees and accompanying its member churches as they minister to and with migrants. She also reaffirmed the WMC’s commitment to the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome as a central conduit of the relationship between the WMC and the Catholic Church. She thanked Pope Francis for welcoming MEOR’s director Rev. Matthew A. Laferty.
Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett presenting Pope Francis a reproduction of a portrait of Mary Bosanquet Fletcher. Photo by Vatican Media.
The delegation presented several gifts to Pope Francis. The gifts included:
a reproduction of a portrait of Mary Bosanquet Fletcher, a leader and preacher in the early Methodist societies in England,
a photograph of Dinka women in South Sudan returning home from work by Methodist photojournalist Paul Jeffrey,
a book of Wesley hymns in Spanish, and
a contemporary Methodist prayer book.
Following the presentation of gifts, the group prayed the Lord’s Prayer together.
Pope Francis last met with the WMC president and general secretary, along with the WMC steering committee and Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission, in October 2017 for the 50th anniversary of the international Methodist-Catholic dialogue. In 2017 the Rev. Dr. Jong Chun Park and Bishop Ivan Abrahams were president and general secretary respectively.
Dr. Park was a fraternal delegate to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church in 2023 and 2024 and met Pope Francis in private audience on several occasions.
Bishop Wallace-Padgett and Dr. Neto were elected to their offices in August 2024 at the World Methodist Council meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden. They are visiting Rome from 16 -19 December 2024 on their first inaugural visit to Rome and the Vatican. In addition to their meeting with Pope Francis, they have meetings planned with various Vatican offices, leaders of the Methodist and Waldensian churches, members of the diplomatic corp, and Catholic organizations based in Rome.
The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and the Caravita Community are co-hosting a public conversation with Bishop Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett on Tuesday, 17 December at 19:00 (Rome). The event will be held in a conversation-style format as Bishop Debbie shares about how God has been at work in her life from her baptism to ordination as a presbyter to election as a bishop of The United Methodist Church.
Bishop Wallace-Padgett is a the president of the World Methodist Council and head of communion of this Methodist association of churches.
The event will be one hour and will be held in English.
The event will be held on Tuesday, 17 December at 19:00 (Rome) at the Oratory of Francis Xavier of Caravita, located at Via del Caravita 7, 00186 Rome.
About Bishop Wallace-Padgett
Bishop Dr. Debra Wallace-Padgett is a the president of the World Methodist Council and head of communion of the Methodist association of churches. She is the second woman to be elected as Council president. Bishop Wallace-Padgett was elected bishop in The United Methodist Church in 2012 and serves as the bishop of Holston and West Virginia. She concluded her tenure as the chair of the WMC Evangelism Standing Committee in 2024 and was a member of the WMC Steering Committee prior to her election as Council president. Bishop Wallace-Padgett has served as a district superintendent and pastor in The United Mthodist Church in Kentucky prior to her episcopal service and has been a member of several United Methodist churchwide agencies, including the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women, the Commission on the Way Forward, and the Connectional Table. A graduate of Berea College, Scarritt College, Lexington Theological Seminary, and Asbury Theological Seminary, Bishop Wallace Padgett is described as having “the unique ability to bring together persons of polarized theological perspectives and believes strongly in the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ.” Bishop Wallace Padgett follows the Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park from the Korean Methodist Church who served as Council president from 2016-2024.
The World Methodist Council
The World Methodist Council is an association of 80 Methodist, Wesleyan, and related Uniting/United Churches representing over 80 million baptized members on every inhabited continent. The Council identifies its central goals as Methodist unity, mission and evangelism, and ecumenical dialogue and interreligious relationships and derives its authority from its member churches who are self-governing and self-ruling. The World Methodist Council is the Christian world communion of Methodist and Wesleyan churches, similar to the Lutheran World Federation, Anglican Communion, and World Communion of Reformed Churches.
The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome is the representation office of the World Methodist Council in Rome, engaged in ecumenical dialogue, joint action for peace and justice, prayer and reflection, and hospitality.
At its meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden, August 18th, 2024, the World Methodist Council expressed its absolute rejection of Antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of Racism and Xenophobia.
It urges all people of Methodist and Wesleyan heritage to resist any expression of such prejudice and bias, whether in thought, word or deed.
The Council laments the atrocity perpetrated on people in Israel on October 7th, 2023; it urges the release of all hostages and prays for healing of the deep trauma occasioned by the attacks. It calls on Israel to stop the killing and destruction in Gaza. It continues to commit itself to work for a just and lasting peace in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, amplifying the plea of Palestinian people in their struggle for justice.
While this includes a critique on the actions of the State of Israel and a commitment to non- violent advocacy and action alongside victimized people, the Council denounces any expression or attitude of antisemitism and, in particular, any violent action towards people of Jewish faith and heritage.
Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome 