Our Story

The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome traces its roots to the emergence of fruitful ecumenical engagement between Methodists and Catholics in the mid-20th century. Pope John XXIII invited the World Methodist Council to appoint several Methodist fraternal delegates including Bishop William Cannon and Prof. Albert Outler to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Soon after the close of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI invited the World Methodist Council to bilateral theological dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church. This bilateral theological dialogue has met continuously over the next half century since the close of Vatican II, publishing 11 reports since its inception. Additionally, an English-speaking Methodist congregation was established in 1955 in a chapel of the Italian Methodist Church located at Ponte Sant’Angelo on the Tiber River whose ministers served as an informal link to the Vatican and further strengthened the ecumenical connection.

This productive relationship with the Vatican led the World Methodist Council, the Methodist Church in Britain, and the Evangelical Methodist Churches in Italy to form a unique partnership with several Methodist church partners, culminating in the establishment of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome. The Revd Dr Tim Macquiban opened MEOR in 2014 and the current partnership configuration was implemented in 2016.

On 7 April 2016, Pope Francis said, “I was pleased to learn of the opening of the Methodist Ecumenical Office in Rome. It is a sign of our growing closeness, and particularly of our shared desire to overcome all that stands in the way of our full communion. May the Lord bless the work of the office and make it a place where Catholics and Methodists can encounter one another and grow in appreciation of one another’s faith, whether they be groups of pilgrims, those training for ministry, or those who guide their communities. May it also be a place where the progress achieved through our theological dialogue is made known, celebrated, and advanced.”