On 14 February, Bishop Robert and the Chaplain-President hosted Archbishop Justin Welby in Brussels during his one-day visit. Following his visit to Ukraine last week, the Archbishop wished to report his learnings to the European Union. Meetings took place with Margaritis Schinas (Vice-President of the European Commission), Stefano Sannino (Secretary-General of the European External Action Service), Father Manuel Prieto and Archbishop Noël Treanor (Secretary-General of the Commission of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of the EU and Papal Nuncio to the EU), Othmar Karas (Vice-President of the European Parliament), Nicola Censini (Coordinator of the Article 17 Dialogue in the European Parliament), Caroline Read (Deputy British Ambassador to the EU) and Martin Shearman and Chloe Louter (British Ambassador and Deputy British Ambassador to Belgium).

This made for a very full day for Archbishop Justin but also a very productive one, in which heartfelt and constructive views were shared about the future of Ukraine, about future relations between the EU and the UK, and about Catholic and Anglican social teaching. Many thanks to Archbishop Justin and Dr Charles Reed (his adviser for foreign affairs) for coming to visit us and for sharing such important insights.