The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's more than 70 million Anglicans, will make his first official visit to Pope Benedict on 23 November at the Vatican, Church sources announced Friday.
The meeting will have particular significance as this year sees the 40th anniversary of the historic meeting between former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI in 1966.
That was the first formal meeting between the heads of the two Churches since England's King Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th Century.
The recent decades have seen both Churches make considerable efforts to reconcile their differences although during the last 10 years relations have been strained over the issue of women priests and homosexual bishops.
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