Advice to royal parents: Pray, talk to the prince about Jesus

By Catholic News Service
LONDON (CNS) -- The leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion told the parents of the future British king to "make sure he knows who Jesus is."
Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury said that unless 3-month-old Prince George is united to Christ, he "can do nothing."
His comments came in address to the child's parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, during the Oct. 23 baptism of Prince George, the great-grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and the third in line to the throne.
Archbishop Welby, who baptized the child, told Prince William and his wife, Catherine, that they had the "simple task" of teaching their son about Jesus Christ.
"Speak of him, read stories about him, introduce him in prayer," said Archbishop Welby, according to excerpts released by the Church of England to the British media Oct. 23.
He said the parents must help George "to grow and flourish into the person God has created and has called him to be."
Archbishop Welby said that by becoming a Christian, Prince George "is to share the life of Christ which is in him, regardless of whom he meets, their faith or nature or habits, so that others find life."
He added that the church "is the only place to go to for the resources George will need so that he is everything he can be, so that he becomes most fully the person God has created him to be."
"Without me, says Jesus, you can do nothing," Archbishop Welby said.
The baptism in the royal chapel of St James's Palace, London, was conducted three months after Prince George was born July 22 to Prince William, second in line to throne, and the Duchess of Cambridge.
The private chapel was the place where William's mother -- Diana, Princess of Wales -- lay in state after she was killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
The heart of the 16th-century Queen Mary I, England's last Catholic queen, is buried in the chapel.
It is also connected to 17th-century James II, England's last Catholic king, because it was partly due to his absence from Protestant services there, while Duke of York, that his conversion to the Catholic faith became public knowledge.