King Charles and Pope Leo will have their first meeting this week at the Vatican. But it will be much more than a meeting of two heads of state. For the first time in 500 years, the leader of the Catholic church and the supreme governor of the Church of England, which broke away from Rome in the 1530s, will pray together publicly in the Sistine Chapel. They’ll devote their prayers to their shared concerns about the environment, religious harmony and global peace.

Fiji is facing an HIV crisis, with one of the fastest growing rates of infection in the Asia-Pacific. The number of people with HIV has more than tripled in the past six years. It now stands at just over 6,000. The Uniting Church’s overseas agency is working with local health authorities.

How can Christians and other religious believers live out their faith when many of its principles conflict, not only with new social norms but the laws of the land? Patrick Parkinson is the former dean of the Queensland University law school and an internationally recognised expert on child protection. He tries to chart a course in his new book, Unshaken Allegiance: Living wisely as Christians with Diminishing Religious Freedoms.

GUESTS:

Luke Coppen is UK editor of The Pillar, a website that covers the Catholic world
Alice Salomon is the head of United advocacy and she’s just back from the capital, Suva
Patrick Parkinson is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Queensland

This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People

For the first time in 500 years King Charles, the head of the Church of England, and the Pope will pray together