Explainer: What are the Personal Ordinariates for former Anglicans?

In March 2026, the heads of the Personal Ordinariates for former Anglicans met with the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). An immediate fruit of these meetings was a document of the DDF listing and appreciating several traits of the particular heritage of the Ordinariates. But, what even is an Ordinariate, and what is it for?

Generally speaking, an Ordinariate is a structure analogous to a diocese, with a key difference. Belonging to a diocese is usually determined by geographical location; if you live in a certain territory (often centered on a particular city), you belong to that diocese. By contrast, belonging to an Ordinariate depends on some other important characteristic, such as belonging to a country’s armed forces (a military Ordinariate), or being a former Anglican.

Also, the head or “ordinary” of an Ordinariate doesn’t necessarily have to be a bishop, although it’s an exception for him not to be. For example, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was led by a priest from 2011 until 2024.

The Ordinariates for former Anglicans are called “Personal Ordinariates” because membership depends on the personal aspect of having come from the Anglican Communion and having written a request to join the Ordinariate (as opposed to simply belonging to a local diocese by default).

They celebrate Mass with a few minor adjustments to the liturgy, enshrined in Divine Worship: The Missal (approved by Pope Francis in 2015), and in Divine Worship: Daily Office (2021), a "Catholicized" version of the 1662 Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

But, what is the origin of the Ordinariates for former Anglicans?

For reasons both theological and political, the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion were antagonistic after the Church of England split from Rome in the 16th century under King Henry VIII. Catholics were violently persecuted in lands where the British Crown imposed Anglicanism, and Catholics sometimes resorted to violence in response. 

In the past 200 years, however, there has been some rapprochement. Catholics were gradually granted more freedom of religion in the United Kingdom under Catholic Emancipation. 

The Oxford Movement, starting in the 19th century, created a space in the Anglican Communion where the similarities with the Catholic Church were fostered and appreciated. One of its key figures was St. John Henry Newman, who later became one of the most famous and celebrated converts from Anglicanism to Catholicism. (And now, thanks to Pope Leo, he's a Catholic Doctor of the Church!)

Then in the past century, and especially after the Second Vatican Council, the Vatican and Anglican leadership started working more seriously to build greater mutual understanding. Pope John XXIII and Paul VI took important ecumenical steps that included a meeting between Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, Michael Ramsey.

Then, things took a turn. Although the ideal goal of all ecumenism is reunification, the Anglican Communion has in recent decades adopted theological changes — most importantly, the ordination of women to the priesthood and to the episcopacy — that make that reunification much more difficult.

At the same time, significant numbers of Anglican clergy and faithful have continued to express the desire to enter the Catholic Church. Consequently, popes have taken steps to facilitate their entry into the Church while allowing them to hold on to certain valid aspects of their Anglican religious practice.

Pope Saint John Paul II approved a “Pastoral Provision” in 1980 that offered married Anglican clergy who converted to Catholicism the possibility of ordination as Catholic priests. Sometimes, when an Anglican priest converted to Catholicism and sought to continue his ministry, he brought much of his congregation with him.

Then, with the document Anglicanorum Coetibus (November 4, 2009), Pope Benedict XVI took a significant step. He created new Personal Ordinariates to welcome groups of Anglicans — lay, religious, or clergy — who had requested “repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately.”

Why not just treat them like any other converts? Because the Anglican Communion has its own valuable Christian heritage that is often compatible with the fullness of the Catholic faith. For example, here is a beautiful prayer they pray before receiving Communion.

Consequently, the German pontiff chose the structure of a Personal Ordinariate to allow “those Anglican faithful who desire to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner” to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving aspects of their own “liturgical, spiritual, and pastoral traditions.” These are “a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared,” Pope Benedict XVI explained.

These Personal Ordinariates are set up by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. They exist within a certain geographical area, usually limited by “the confines of the territorial boundaries of a particular Conference of Bishops.” These are generally national (such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB). The Vatican has already extended some ordinariates beyond these boundaries, however, to adjoining regions, such as from the United States to Canada.

Currently, there are three Anglican Ordinariates: the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter (in the United States and Canada, with its cathedral in Houston, Texas); that of Our Lady of Walsingham (in the United Kingdom, with its central church in London); and that of Our Lady of the Southern Cross (Australia, Japan, and Guam, with its principal church in Perth).

The faithful and clergy of these Ordinariates should not be isolated in their practice of their faith from the people in the dioceses surrounding them. Anglicanorum Coetibus specifies that the priests of the Ordinariates should strive to work together in unity with the local priests who aren’t part of the Ordinariate. This should include “common pastoral and charitable initiatives and activities” — think pilgrimages, soup kitchens, etc.

Someone might object that this creates divisions in the Church, but diversity doesn’t mean division. The Catholic Church has one faith and is united under the Vicar of Christ, but it includes many liturgical rites and cultural traditions, some of which have differences that are much more noticeable than those characteristic of the Ordinariates.

Some of these have existed within the Catholic Church since the first centuries, and simply reflect the local evolution of liturgy and prayer in a world that wasn't connected as we are today. Others are the result of the Vatican making accommodations for large numbers of people entering the Church from another Christian denomination, as is the case of some Eastern rites.

The “Anglican use” of the Ordinariates isn’t a rite, but something like a “variation” of the Latin Rite. It reflects the desire of the Church to embrace all her children in their valid diversity and cultural richness.