In 1960, an informal meeting took place when Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher was received in the Vatican by Pope John XXIII. This was the first meeting between a Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury since the Reformation. This was followed, after the Second Vatican Council, by a formal visit by Archbishop Michael Ramsey to Pope St Paul VI in 1966. At the time of that visit, and on several occasions since, the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury have issued a joint declaration.
As well as these formal meetings Popes and Archbishops have met together informally on a number of occasions among them a meeting between Archbishop Runcie and Pope St John Paul II at the World Day of Prayer for peace in Assisi in 1986 and the presence of Archbishop Rowan Williams at the inauguration of the ministry of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. The most recent visit of Archbishop Justin Welby to Rome was in November 2019 when he met with Pope Francis on the day of the installation of Archbishop Ian Ernest as Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See.