'Give thy grace to all Bishops': of course Anglicans pray for the Bishop of Rome

The recent election of a new Bishop of Rome made me think about the generous, ecumenical nature of the petitions for the universal Church in the Book of Common Prayer 1662 and its variants. Above all, we must consider the Prayer for the Church Militant in the Holy Communion:

... beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant, that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love.

We explicitly pray for "the universal Church": not our own communion, not only those in communion with our bishops, not only those who agree with us in the matters of the Reformation debates. We pray for "all they that do confess thy holy Name", all who have been baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity and confess the catholic Creeds. 

This, of course, includes our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters and those churches in communion with the See of Rome.  As Hooker reminds us, even amidst the bitter debates between Elizabeth's Church and the papacy, they are "a parte of the howse of God, a limme of the visible Church of Christ" (LEP V.68.9).

Moreover, we go on to pray for "all Bishops" and clergy:

Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all Bishops and Curates, that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments

No less than the bishops in the Churches of the Three Kingdoms in 1662, the Lutheran bishops of the Scandinavian kingdoms, the Reformed superintendents of Central and Eastern Europe (routinely described by Church of England divines as bishops in all but name), and the episcopate of the great and ancient Churches of the East, "all Bishops" also necessarily includes the Bishop of Rome and those bishops in communion with him. 

We see an echo of this - or, to be more precise, of the same words in BCP 1559 - in Lancelot Andrewes' Preces Privatae, with its petition for the Church "Catholic, eastern, western, British" and for "Bishops, presbyters, orders of clergy, the Christloving people". To pray in the Prayer for the Church Militant for "the universal Church" and "all Bishops" is necessarily to pray also for the Bishop of Rome, amongst all the episcopate, and those in communion with him, amongst all Christians.

In the Litany, the same generous, ecumenical petitions are to be found. Firstly, we pray for the "holy Church universal":

We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God: and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universal in the right way, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

That the universal Church should be ruled and governed "in the right way" is, of course, a prayer to be always offered: at no point in the life of the Church catholic, this side of the eschaton, is this a prayer not required. In offering it, we pray for all those throughout the universal Church who rule and govern. When this comes to the Bishop of Rome, it does not, obviously, in any way affirm his claims to "supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power" - any more than this prayer affirms the divine right of government by presbytery. But we are to pray always for all those called to rule and govern in the universal Church, mindful of their weighty responsibilities.

That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word; and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

Again, "all Bishops". Amongst them is the Bishop of Rome, bishop of an ancient, venerable see - one of a number of such ancient, venerable sees. Placing him unnamed amongst "all Bishops" is itself a significant (and necessary) ecclesiological statement: but here, too, we pray for Leo XIV, Bishop of Rome, in his episcopal office. With all other bishops, we pray particularly that his preaching will be animated by "true knowledge and understanding of thy Word". In light of the attention which will be given by many across the globe to the teaching of Leo XIV, the fact that this prayer includes him is very fitting.

Then there is the Prayer for All Sorts and Conditions:

More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.

It is a beautiful phrase: "we pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church". That all the parts thereof would flourish; well-tended; bearing fruit. Note too, "all who profess and call themselves Christians": all those with whom we are baptised into the Holy Trinity, all those who confess with us the Catholic creeds, who pray 'Our Father', who receive the holy Sacrament hearing the words 'My Body given for you, my Blood shed for you'. And so we pray for our Reformed brethren and their presbyteries, for our Orthodox brethren and their patriarchs, for our Lutheran brethren and their bishops and superintendents, and for our Roman Catholic brethren and their chief pastor, the Bishop of Rome. 

If we be more charitable to you than you are to us, acknowledge in us the beauty and essential form of Christian Religion; be sure you love as well as make use of our charity - Jeremy Taylor.