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Pope Francis has become the first pontiff to visit an Anglican church in Rome.
The Pope and Anglican bishop, Robert Innes, prayed side-by-side on Sunday afternoon at All Saints Church in central Rome.
Bishop Innes praised the Roman Catholic leader for his solidarity with refugees and migrants.
Anglicans split from Catholicism in 1534, when England’s King Henry VIII was denied a marriage annulment.
Both churches are striving toward greater closeness despite obstacles.
The papal in his homily acknowledged that Anglicans and Catholics “viewed each other with suspicion and hostility” in past centuries.
He encouraged both faiths to be “always more liberated from our respective prejudices from the past.”
Pope Francis made no references to major theological differences, including the Anglican practices of ordaining women and allowing openly gay bishops.