POPE FRANCIS MEETS WITH JUSTIN WELBY ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

 

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, met with His Holiness Pope Francis in a private audience this morning 5 October 2021 in the context of the signing of the joint appeal issued at the “Faith and Science: Towards COP26” meeting held yesterday in the Vatican. Archbishop Welby was accompanied by Reverend Dr William Adam, Anglican Communion Office Deputy Secretary General; Right Reverend Ian Ernest, Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome; Right Reverend David Hamid, Suffragan Bishop of Europe; Right Reverend Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich; and Right Reverend Julio Murray, Archbishop of Panama and Central America. Reverend Father Anthony Currer, PCPCU staff member responsible for relations with Anglicans, also attended the meeting.

As a prelude to the joint appeal, Archbishop Welby, together with the Holy Father and the Ecumenical Patriarch, had signed in September 2021 a “Joint Message for the Protection of Creation” stressing the importance of cooperation and sustainability over short-term advantages as the essential aspects of the response of humanity to the threat of climate change and environmental degradation.

While in Rome, Archbishop Welby also took part in the symposium “The Appeal in Practice: Inspiring Action” organized by the Embassy of Italy to the Holy See, and the Opening Event of the Sant’Egidio International Meeting for Peace.