What happened in the Crown Prince's meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a special meeting at the Lambeth Palace where the parties discussed a range of issues, including the religious freedom of Christians in Saudi Arabia and the conflict in Yemen.

The Anglican news website has published a report, in this context, that has been translated by TheRiyadhPost, confirming that the one-hour meeting witnessed the presence of the bishops of Newcastle, Leeds, Christine Hardman and Nick Baines.

In a statement, speaking on behalf of the Lambeth Palace, said that Archbishop Justin was impressed by the reforms being done in the kingdom and overseen by the crown prince as part of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030.

The statement added,” "The Crown Prince has committed himself to promoting the flourishing of various religious traditions and interreligious dialogue within and outside the Kingdom,". The Archbishop explained the importance of supporting freedom of religion or belief by leaders of all religions and benefiting from the experience of the United Kingdom."

The report states that "in a friendly and honest conversation, the archbishop expressed his grief at the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and asked everyone to work to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population and to seek an end to the conflict."

The Archbishop also stressed the crucial role that Saudi Arabia can play in protecting minorities around the world.

During the visit, the archbishop presented to the Crown prince a selection of Christian, Islamic and Jewish texts at the Lambeth Palace Library, as well as the Birmingham Qur'anic manuscript written in the Hijazi Arabic script and radiocarbon dating from 568 to 645 AD.

This manuscript is one of the oldest written parts of the Qur'an that still exist.

The visit to the Lambeth Palace is part of an official visit by the Crown Prince to the United Kingdom following a visit to Egypt earlier this week.

It is mentioned that The Crown Prince met on Monday with Pope Tawadros II at the Coptic Orthodox Church and discussed with him "fraternal relations between the Kingdom and Egypt".

The two sides also stressed the importance of the role of different religions and cultures in promoting tolerance, rejecting violence, extremism, and terrorism, as well as achieving security and peace for the peoples of the region and the world."