Baycroft in Rome

The former bishop of Ottawa spent Christmas Eve with Pope John Paul II.

Bishop John Baycroft represented the Anglican Communion during the Pope’s televised Christmas Eve mass in Rome. According to a report in the National Post, Bishop Baycroft and his wife, Joan, sat in the front row behind the altar.

Bishop Baycroft was installed as director of the Anglican Centre in Rome on Nov. 27 by Most Rev. Frank Griswold, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican co-chairman of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission.

Bishop Baycroft is the first Canadian ever to head the Anglican Centre in Rome.

As head of the centre, he will be expected to develop contacts with the Vatican and help educate others in ecumenism through contacts with theology students.

The bishop had been a member of ARCIC for a number of years.