His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and His Grace The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams, attended a Service of Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey on Friday 17 September 2010. The ecumenical service formed part of the state visit of His Holiness to the United Kingdom and was also attended by the Archbishop of York, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu and the (Roman Catholic) Archbishop of Westminster the Most Revd Vincent Nichols as well as the leaders of other Churches of the British Isles.
Pope Benedict was welcomed to the Abbey by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Revd Dr John Hall, who said: ‘Your Holiness, the Dean and Chapter welcomes you most warmly as the first pope to visit this Church dedicated to St Peter, which has been the kingdom’s coronation church since 1066, and which, for 600 years as a Benedictine Abbey, until the English Reformation, enjoyed a close relationship of mutual support with the papacy.’
The clergy were seated on the new sacrarium stalls designed and made by Luke Hughes and Company. The furniture sits over the Cosmati pavement, set with semi-precious stones, which was laid down in 1268 by order of Henry III.
During the service, both the Pope and the Archbishop venerated the gospel given by Pope Gregory the Great to St Augustine in the 6th century to help convert the English. The gospels are now kept in the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College Cambridge under the supervision of Dr Christopher de Hamel.
By a curious coincidence, the new chairs in the Parker Library at Corpus were also designed by Luke Hughes.