[Lambeth Palace press release] As the first archbishop of Canterbury to visit Mexico, the Most Rev. Justin Welby expressed “special appreciation” for its Anglican Church’s witness to Christ and the Anglican Communion.

Welby has praised the Anglican Church in Mexico for its work with “some of those most marginalized by poverty and insecurity.”

During a two-day visit this week, Welby said Anglicans in Mexico are contributing to “the witness of the Anglican Communion as a whole on global challenges such as food security, sustainable development and climate change.”

His stay concluded a week-long visit to Anglican primates in the region which has included Barbados and Guatemala.

Traveling with his wife, Caroline Welby, the archbishop was visiting Mexico at the invitation of its new primate, the Most Rev. Francisco Moreno.

Arriving in Monterrey, Northern Mexico on Tuesday, he said: “I thank God for this opportunity to visit Mexico, to see something of this great nation and to share fellowship with my brothers and sisters of the Anglican Church of Mexico.”

Congratulating Moreno on his new appointment, he added: “I look forward to meeting many of our Mexican clergy and people, and to seeing the church’s work in action among some of those most marginalised by poverty and insecurity.”

Over two days the archbishop preached at a celebration of the Eucharist in Monterrey, and visited the Community of St. Jude in Juarez in the State of Nuevo Leon.

As the first archbishop of Canterbury to visit Mexico, Welby said he wished to express “special appreciation of the witness to Jesus Christ of La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, and of its participation in the witness of the Anglican Communion as a whole on global challenges such as food security, sustainable development and climate change.”

During his first 18 months in office, the archbishop plans to visit all of his fellow primates around the Anglican Communion.

His desire is to build personal and professional bonds, understand the primates’ work in its local context, and lay foundations for collaboration over the coming years.