Pope Names Bishop Lopes to lead Catholics of Anglican tradition in Australia

Hannah Brockhaus EWTN NEWS

Bishop Lopes will lead the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia; one of three personal ordinariates for Catholics of Anglican tradition.

Pope Leo XIV on Monday appointed Bishop Steven J. Lopes, bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, to also lead the ordinariate for Catholics of Anglican tradition in Australia, effective immediately.

There are three personal ordinariates erected for former Anglicans who convert to Catholicism: the Chair of Saint Peter for the United States and Canada, Our Lady of Walsingham for the United Kingdom, and Our Lady of the Southern Cross for Australia.

Bishop Randazzo Named Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts

The Vatican also announced on May 11 that Archbishop Anthony Randazzo — who was named prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts in March — has concluded his role as apostolic administrator of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, which began on July 1, 2023.

Each of the three ordinariates is a personal (non-territorial) jurisdiction, similar to a diocese but defined by people (those with an Anglican background who have entered full communion with the Catholic Church) rather than by strict geographical boundaries. Any Catholic may belong to or attend an ordinariate parish.

“As I conclude my time as apostolic administrator, I give thanks for the grace-filled growth of the Ordinariate [of Our Lady of the Southern Cross] and the faithful witness of its clergy and people,” Randazzo wrote on his Facebook page on May 11.

“It has been a privilege to serve the Ordinariate during this period of renewal and hope, …I am encouraged by the strong foundations laid and the emerging signs of vitality, and I remain confident that its mission will bear fruit well into the future.”

Bishop Randazzo

Randazzo was also the bishop of Broken Bay, Australia, from 2019 to 2026.

Bishop Lopes Ordained Bishop for Personal Ordinariate

Bishop Lopes, who was ordained a bishop for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in 2016, wrote to members in an email on May 11 that he has been privileged to come to know the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross over the years and to now “be its custodian for a while.”

Bishop Lopes has been appointed apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis,” which means “the see being vacant and at the disposition of the Holy See.”

Bishop Lopes, who is originally from California, has a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Ordained a priest in 2001, he served as an official at the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2005 until his appointment as bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, of which the mother church and cathedral is in Houston.

Personal Ordinariates and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith

The Vatican reaffirmed its support for the personal ordinariates in a document issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in March.

In “Characteristics of the Anglican Heritage as Lived in the Ordinariates Established Under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus,” the Vatican highlighted key characteristics of the Anglican patrimony as lived in the ordinariates, including a distinctive “ecclesial ethos” in which both the laity and the clergy participate actively in Church governance, and a focus on evangelization through beauty in worship, music, and art.

Join us in Praying for Australia

You can pray the words of the Hymn to Our Lady of the Southern Cross for the Personal Ordinariate in Australia. These words, written by ordinariate priest Fr Ramsay Williams, implore Australia’s Patron, Our Lady Help of Christians, among her other titles, for her intercession over our home – under the Southern Cross. This hymn can be sung to Orientis Partibus a traditional 13th Century French melody popularised by the harmonisations of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Hymn to Our Lady of the Southern Cross

1. MARY, you now reign on high,
   far beyond our southern sky;
   Queen endowed with royal grace,
   highest honour of our race. [Alleluia!]
2. You gave birth to God the Son,
   Christ the sole-begotten One;
   in a stable cold and bare:
   Virgin-Mother, dear and rare. [Alleluia!]
3. Witness of his agony,
   by the Cross on Calvary:
   heart of sorrow, pierced with sword:
   Mother of the dying Lord. [Alleluia!]
4. Now enthroned with Christ your Son,
   Resurrection victory won;
   Help of Christians, Star of Sea,
   Mary, Mother – hear our plea. [Alleluia!]
5. *Patron of our wide brown land,
   guide us with your gentle hand
   where the Southern Cross shines bright,
   to our home with Christ our Light. [Alleluia!]