Archbishop of Canterbury private talks with Pope John XXIII in 1960. In 2005, Rowan Williams became the first Archbishop of Canterbury to attend a papal funeral since the Reformation. He also attended the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI. The 101st archbishop, Donald Coggan, was the first to attend a papal inauguration, that of Pope John Paul II in 1978. Since 2002, the Archbishop of Canterbury has co-sponsored the Alexandria Middle East Peace process with the Grand Mufti of Egypt. In July 2008, the archbishop attended a conference of Christians, Jews and Muslims convened by the King of Saudi Arabia at which the notion
John of Canterbury John of Canterbury John of Canterbury (died 1204) was Bishop of Poitiers 1162 to 1181 and Archbishop of Lyon 1181 to 1193. He became a “cosmopolitan and much-respected churchman”. He began as a clerk to Theobald of Canterbury. He became Treasurer of York in 1152. At the wish of Henry II of England, he was made Bishop of Poitiers, and consecrated at the Council of Tours in 1163. He was a close supporter of Thomas Becket in his quarrel with Henry II. While he was elected Archbishop of Narbonne, that election was superseded by his election at Lyon and he