The former Anglican bishop Michael Nazir Ali hopes to help the worldwide persecuted and marginalized Christians as he becomes a Catholic. The 72 year old bishop, the possible future archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the world’s 85 million Anglicans said that he is having a bittersweet moment while conjoining with the Catholic church.
“Bitter, because I am deeply saddened that the Church of England is not the church I joined. There are many individual parishes, priests and believers who remain committed to biblical faith and values. But as an institution it seems to be losing its way. Sweet, because I am excited about the opportunities that joining the ordinariate will bring: to uphold human rights and help millions of suffering Christians and others round the world. The Catholic Church is a truly united global organization, which gives it strength,” he said.
He pointed to the example of Asia Bibi, who was imprisoned in Pakistan due to false blasphemy charges. He said that the Catholic Church played a vital role in her release in 2019. Becoming an ordinariate he is enabled to support Christians closer to home who are marginalized.