A group of 16 prominent Anglican and Catholic theologians met for five days last week in Canterbury, England, to continue a set of informal dialogues between the two churches.

Although not officially sanctioned by either denomination, the gathering, known as the “Malines Conversations Group,” has support from both the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and Anglican officials in London.

At one point last week, the 16 were received together at the Anglican church’s London headquarters at Lambeth Palace where they met with both Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Communion, and Vincent Nichols, the cardinal archbishop of the Catholic archdiocese of Westminster.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Justin Welby have jointly launched an initiative this Lent to encourage people to pray for the work churches do to support those in their parishes and beyond. During this week Archbishop Justin and Cardinal Vincent will give also give thanks to God daily for this essential act of service and they will pray for his blessing on the work of churches serving people in need. Their aim is that by joining together in prayer and encouraging others to join them they will foster the work of the church in strengthening communities and helping those in need across the country.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Pope Francis have given their backing to a ground-breaking ecumenical initiative to combat modern slavery and human trafficking.

The agreement to help eradicate an injustice affecting up to 29 million people was co-signed on March 17th by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See, Archbishop Sir David Moxon; the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Science and Social Science, Bishop Sanchez Sorondo; Dr Mahmoud Azab on behalf of the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Egypt; and Mr Andrew Forrest, the founder of the large international philanthropic anti-slavery organisation from Perth, Western Australia “Walk Free”.

The joint statement by the Global Freedom Network signatories, which underscores the searing personal destructiveness of modern slavery and human trafficking, calls for urgent action by all other Christian churches and global faiths. The Global Freedom Network is an open association and other faith leaders will be invited to join and support the initiative.

For the first time in history, Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Muslims have joined forces in a project to “inspire practical and spiritual action” to combat modern slavery and human trafficking.

High-level representatives from each faith community were at the Vatican today to sign an agreement launching the Global Freedom Network to help eradicate an injustice that affects up to 27 million people.

Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby have personally given their backing to the newly-formed organisation that aims to eradicate slavery by encouraging governments, businesses, and educational and faith institutions to rid their supply chains of slave labour.

Their representatives, the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Science and Social Science Monseigner Sanchez Sorondo and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See Archbishop Sir David Moxon, signed the historic agreement at a media conference held in Rome this morning.