Kenneth Copeland Visits Pope Francis
Historic Moment
On June 23, 2014, one week before the opening day of the annual Southwest Believers’ Convention in Fort Worth, Kenneth Copeland was part of a delegation of evangelical church leaders who traveled to Rome, to meet with Pope Francis.
Others in the group included James and Betty Robison of Fort Worth; Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, Dr. Brian Stiller and Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher from the World Evangelical Alliance; the Rev. John Arnott and his wife, Carol, co-founders of Catch the Fire Toronto and overseers of the Partners in Harvest Network based in Toronto; and the Rt. Rev. Tony Palmer, co-founder of The Ark Community, an international and interdenominational community of Christians based in the United Kingdom.
The meeting, which took place at the request of Pope Francis, was arranged by Palmer, a former director of Kenneth Copeland Ministries’ South Africa office. Over the past decade, he has been extensively involved with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. It was during a mission to Argentina six years ago that Palmer met Pope Francis, then known as Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Since that time, the two had become close friends.
Tragically, a month after this unprecedented meeting, Palmer died of injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident in the United Kingdom where he resided. In a statement released shortly after Palmer’s death, Brother Copeland talked about the friendship between Palmer and Pope Francis, and how that relationship had been the catalyst for creating a worldwide move and building a bridge of unity between churches.
“In January of this year, Tony brought a personal video greeting from Pope Francis to all of us during our annual Ministers’ Conference in Fort Worth, Texas,” Brother Copeland wrote. “There, Tony was being THE BRIDGE. It was a marvelous and very anointed moment in all our lives. Tony then returned to Rome with a video (both videos on his cell phone) from us to the pope. Pope Francis responded with a personal invitation to me and seven others…. We all, hosted by Tony, had one of the most anointed and wonderful experiences of our lives. THE BRIDGE WAS BUILT, and we stood on it together in the glorious presence of a very pleased LORD and Savior.
8 : BVOV
