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REX/Heathcliff O'Malley
World News

Justin Welby to visit Syrian refugee camp during Holy Land tour

by Justin Brierley

The trip, due to take place at the start of May, will see the Anglican leader speaking to political and religious leaders as well as witnessing the effects of the refugee crisis.

The tour will begin with a visit to a refugee camp in Jordan which is housing Muslims who have fled Syria. The Archbishop has been housing a Syrian family at his official residence, Lambeth Palace, since last year.

Justin Welby also plans to visit Christians who have been displaced by the civil war as part of a "fact finding" mission about the plight of the Christian population in the Middle East.

During a trip to Jerusalem the Archbishop of Canterbury will be installed as an episcopal canon at St George's Cathedral as part of an ecumenical event involving Christian leaders from multiple denominations. Welby will also tour baptismal sites in Haifa and Achor where a renewal in the local church has recently been experienced.

There will also be visits to Nazareth and Galilee, where Justin and Caroline Welby spent their honeymoon. A visit to Bethlehem will include a briefing on how the separation barrier is affecting relationships between Arabs and Israelis in the vicinity.

Archbishop Welby will also meet with President Rivlin of Israel and (separately) President Abbas of Palestine. A meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu is also hoped to take place. The tour will conclude with a speech on reconciliation delivered by Justin Welby at the Peres Centre for Peace in Tel Aviv.

Rev Mark Poulson, the Archbishop's inter-religious advisor, who is organising the tour said that it was taking place in order to, "affirm the Christian Community in the Holy Land, support and encourage St George's Cathedral as a centre for Christian faith and reconciliation, and celebrate faith and religious freedom."

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