The election of Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, inspires all of us in the Traditional Anglican Communion to give thanks to God for this wise and godly shepherd who in the few short days since he was chosen by the Lord has several times recalled that our task as Christians is to work for that unity which Christ, the Good Shepherd, desired for all his flock.

Likewise, we give thanks for his clarion call last Monday at St. Paul's Outside the Walls for renewed commitment to evangelisation throughout the whole world in the service of that same unity in charity that has always been the true sign of Christ's triumph over sin and death.

In our ministry as an Anglican Communion, through God's grace, we have grown around the world in a new evangelization that has brought renewed hope to a tradition whose origins may even date back to Apostolic times, but we have done so using all the modern means of social communication at our disposal. That methodology has enabled our Communion, at first a small remnant, to grow in a few short years to the several hundred thousand believers who now find Christ in us.

One element of that methodology that I continue to find very effective is robust public debate, even in the media, about many of our positions, goals and activities as a Communion, and as we continue our evangelization, our worship, our ministry to the Anglican world, and our tireless labour for Christian unity, I have committed myself to maintaining the closest, and broadest, links of communication with my fellow bishops, with the clergy and laity of our Communion, and with the media in each of its forms. The media is now the instrument through which we touch the world we are called to evangelise.

Nevertheless, as we move in increasingly positive directions to full and visible unity with other Christians, there will be some occasions where respect for our partners in dialogue will require us to maintain sensitive and loving confidentiality concerning significant initiatives and developments.

I believe this will particularly be the case with respect to certain aspects of our relations with representatives of the Anglican Communion and of the Holy See, where I am convinced that the special delicacy of the subject, in the light of Christ's prayer that unity in Him exclude no one, makes it appropriate for us to withdraw our activities in this area from ongoing media consideration until we can do so in full partnership with those who share our yearning for unity.

Thus, as we pursue this stage in our journey toward full and visible Christian unity, I will henceforward not be commenting in the media on discussions we might have with those representatives, though I will, of course, keep each of my fellow bishops, as true sharers in this labour and commitment, fully informed, relying heavily on their experience and advice, to keep us heading with the necessary confidentiality, where the Spirit wants us to go.

I thank each of you for your understanding in this regard; I assure each of you that our progress in this area is real and continuing, and I ask your constant prayers for the Spirit's guidance in an awesome task from which, with God's help, we will not shrink.