Nearly five centuries after King Henry VIII of England broke away from the Catholic Church to pursue multiple marriages, another divorced and remarried English monarch, King Charles III, engaged in a profound ecumenical prayer service with Pope Leo XIV on Thursday within the hallowed walls of the Sistine Chapel.
This service, held in the very chamber where Pope Leo XIV was recently selected as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, marks the first time in modern history that a pontiff and a reigning British monarch—who also serves as the nominal head of the Church of England—have publicly prayed side-by-side.
The event signifies a remarkable improvement in relations between the Anglican and Catholic denominations, alongside King Charles III’s evident desire to be recognized as a leader promoting interfaith understanding. While his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, met with several popes during her extensive seven-decade reign, she never participated in a public prayer with any of them. Although King Charles and Queen Camilla did meet with Pope Francis in April, prior to Francis’s passing, no joint prayer service was held then.
The King and Queen’s participation was part of a state visit to the Vatican, originally planned before Francis’s death to coincide with the Jubilee, a sacred year of penance and forgiveness observed every quarter-century.
For King Charles, this visit comes during a challenging period for the royal family, which is currently grappling with new revelations regarding his brother Prince Andrew’s connections to the infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Following significant pressure from the King, Andrew has relinquished his title as the Duke of York.
However, the visit also highlights one of the King’s most enduring passions: religious tolerance. He notably spent his first 100 days on the throne in 2022 visiting a Jewish community center in London, where he even danced the hora at a Hanukkah party. During his 2023 coronation, he actively engaged with leaders from diverse non-Christian faiths, among them Judaism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.
Charles’s inclusive approach has, at times, drawn criticism. In 1994, well before his ascension to the throne, he stated that he envisioned his future role as a ‘defender of faith’ in a general sense, rather than solely ‘Defender of the Faith,’ a comment widely interpreted as acknowledging Britain’s increasing religious diversity. He later clarified his remarks, explaining that ‘while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths.’
A second ecumenical service held on Thursday was anticipated to see the King accept the honorary title of “Royal Confrater,” a recognition of the deep historical ties between the monarchy and the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. Furthermore, the Vatican commissioned a special chair for the King and his successors, adorned with the royal coat of arms and bearing the Latin inscription “Ut unum sint”—“That they may be one”—a powerful symbol of their shared Christian heritage.
These two services were meticulously arranged as a gesture of “our closeness and willingness to see one another as brothers and sisters despite differences,” remarked Reverend Martin Browne, who is part of the Vatican department dedicated to promoting Christian Unity in Rome, speaking before the state visit. “That is clearly an important sign for the world, not just in terms of the ecumenical project, but for humanity in general.”
Underneath Michelangelo’s breathtaking frescoes, and accompanied by both Anglican and Catholic choirs.
Traditionally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the spiritual head of the Church of England, would have accompanied the King on such a visit to Rome. However, the Most Reverend Justin Welby resigned from his position last November after a report that criticized his handling of an investigation into widespread clerical abuse of boys and young men. This month, the Right Reverend Sarah Mullally made headlines as the first woman appointed to the role, though her official installation is not expected until early next year.
The ordination of women remains a significant point of divergence between the Anglican and Catholic traditions. While some Anglican churches have been ordaining women priests since the 1970s, the Vatican strictly permits only men to be ordained. The Catholic Church has repeatedly postponed discussions about whether women can be ordained, even concerning lower-ranking church ministers known as deacons.
When questioned in a press briefing last week about whether Pope Leo would participate in a joint prayer service with the Archbishop-designate, Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the Vatican department for promoting Christian unity, stated that the issue would not arise until her official installation. He acknowledged that the ordination of Anglican women presents a “potential problem” between the churches but emphasized, “it is more urgent that we stay together, that we dialogue, and that we continue to walk together.”
Once Archbishop-designate Mullally assumes her role, she is expected to meet with Pope Leo, as the pontiff regularly hosts various church leaders in Rome. “The development of having female clergy and female bishops in the Church of England is one that is recognized as a matter for the Church of England by the Catholic Church,” explained the Right Reverend Anthony Ball, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See.
Theological experts suggest that such a service would not imply a shift in the papacy’s stance on the ordination of women. Nor does Pope Leo’s prayer with King Charles signify a complete alignment of views on all other issues that historically divide them.
For instance, Anglican priests are permitted to marry, and some Anglican churches welcome openly gay priests. In contrast, the Catholic Church mandates celibacy for clerics and prohibits openly gay clergy. Additionally, divorced Catholics whose marriages have not been annulled are not allowed to remarry in a church service, while divorced Anglicans may remarry within the Church of England.
“We don’t have to change each other,” remarked the Very Reverend Andrew McGowan, a professor of Anglican studies at the Yale Divinity School.
Experts believe it’s improbable that either the Pope or the King would deliberately raise these contentious issues. “There’s certain topics you don’t bring up at Thanksgiving dinner,” quipped Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior analyst at Religion News Service and a seasoned Vatican observer. “You know where everybody stands and so the effort is to see where we can work together.”
A significant area of shared interest between the two leaders is climate change. The King’s visit was initially scheduled to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si, Pope Francis’s seminal encyclical on the imperative to protect the planet’s health. Pope Leo has passionately advocated for global action to ensure that the primary burden of climate change does not fall upon the poor, and King Charles has consistently warned of an existential threat to humanity posed by rising carbon emissions.