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The Queen had brought a large hamper stuffed with goodies from her royal estates: honey from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, venison, beef and some best bitter from Windsor Castle, cider, apple juice and a selection of chutneys from Sandringham and some shortbread and whiskey from the Balmoral estate in Scotland. She also gave the Pope a couple of signed photographs in silver frames, saying with a wry smile, Im afraid you have to have a photograph its inevitable! Pope Francis also had a rather personal gift for the Queen or rather for her newest great-grandson and third in line for the throne, the eight-month-old Prince George. It was a blue, lapis lazuli orb, topped with a cross of St Edward the Confessor and around the base a dedication reading Pope Francis to His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. The Queen seemed visibly delighted, exclaiming, thats very nice, hell be thrilled with thatwhen hes a little older.The Pope also presented the Queen with a replica of a decree from the Vatican archives, dating from 1679, by which Pope Innocent XI extended the veneration of St Edward the Confessor to the Universal Church, establishing his feast day on October 9th. Those who followed Pope Benedicts state visit to Britain in 2010 will recall one of the most moving moments of his three day trip was in Westminster Abbey where he and the then Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams knelt side by side in prayer at the Shrine of Edward the Confessor, who died in 1066. Together the Anglican and Catholic leaders prayed for Church and country but also for the gift of reconciliation and unity. We werent told exactly what the Bishop of Rome and the Governor of the Church of England talked about during this brief visit to the Vatican, but Im fairly sure their talks will have touched on the shared spiritual heritage and a mutual commitment to renewed Christian unity. Listen to Philippa Hitchen's report:
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