Pope Francis attended a service at the All Saints ’ Church in Rome on Sunday , becoming the first pontiff in history to visit an Anglican church in the Italian capital.
Francis ’s visit marked the 200th anniversary of the All Saints ’ church , furthering a rapprochement between the Vatican and the Anglican Church of England that began last year .
In a further sign of the closer ties, the pope spoke of the “ possibility” of a visit to troubled South Sudan with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby , his Anglican counterpart.
Pope Francis added that such a visit would only be for a single day “because the situation is difficult there” .
South Sudan , which only gained nationhood in 2011 , has been engulfed since 2013 by a civil war which has left thousands dead and three million people displaced .
“ As Catholics and Anglicans , we are humbly grateful that , after centuries of mutual mistrust, we are now able to recognizee that the fruitful grace of Christ is at work also in others ,” the pope said in a sermon on Sunday.
“ Today we can be encouraged by our gathering .”
Closer ties with other faiths and branches of Christianity have been a priority for Francis since he became pope in 2013 .
Last October , he attended a special service in Rome with Welby to mark the 50 th anniversary of the first joint prayer of a Catholic pontiff and a head of the Church of England.
The service marked the historic meeting between then archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI .
The Church of England broke away from the Roman Catholic church under British King Henry VIII in the 16th Century , and Anglicans have not recognised the pontiff as their spiritual leader since then .
credit:punchng
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