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Head of Anglican church visits Christian refugees in Jordan

Justin Welby, center, the archbishop of Canterbury, meets with fellow Anglican leaders in Amman, Jordan on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 during a trip to the see the region’s Christian refugees. “We do not want a Middle East without Christians. Christians are the past in the Middle East, they are the present and they must be the future,” said the archbishop. (Sam McNeil / Associated Press)
Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan – The head of the Anglican Church met with Iraqi Christian refugees during a visit to Jordan in which he called on the region’s embattled Christians to remain in the Middle East, the cradle of their faith.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said Tuesday that Christians “are the past in the Middle East, they are the present and they must be the future.”

Two dozen refugees from Iraq asked the archbishop to help them leave the Middle East after praying with him at the Anglican church of St. Paul in Amman.

Welby also met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

The Middle East is home to the oldest Christian communities in the world, but large numbers have fled in recent years to escape war and Islamic extremism.