Almost five centuries after King Henry VIII famously severed ties with the Catholic Church to pursue multiple marriages, another English monarch, King Charles III, also divorced and remarried, participated in an unprecedented ecumenical prayer service with Pope Leo XIV on Thursday. This historic event took place within the magnificent Sistine Chapel.
This powerful service unfolded in the very chamber where Pope Leo XIV was recently chosen as the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. It marked a truly groundbreaking moment, as it was the first time in centuries that a reigning Pope and a British sovereign—who also serves as the nominal head of the Church of England—publicly shared a moment of prayer.
This remarkable gathering signals a dramatic improvement in relations between the Anglican and Catholic faiths. It also underscores King Charles III’s evident dedication to fostering interfaith dialogue and his desire to be seen as a unifying ecumenical figure. Interestingly, while his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, met with several popes during her 70-year reign, she never publicly prayed alongside any of them. King Charles and Queen Camilla did have an audience with Pope Francis in April, shortly before his passing, but that occasion did not include a joint prayer service.
The Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, and Pope Leo led the solemn prayers, recited in both English and Latin. Their voices blended with those of combined Anglican and Catholic choirs, creating a powerful atmosphere as the King and Queen sat attentively on elegant gold chairs nearby.
An image shows Pope Leo XIV alongside King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Vatican on Thursday, following their historic prayer meeting.
The King and Queen’s participation in this service was a key part of their state visit to the Vatican, strategically timed to align with the Jubilee, a significant year of penance and forgiveness observed by Catholics every 25 years.
This visit unfolds during a challenging period for King Charles personally, as the royal family grapples with ongoing disclosures regarding his brother, Prince Andrew, and his controversial associations with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Following considerable pressure from the King, Andrew has ceased using his title, the Duke of York.
Despite these domestic challenges, the trip prominently highlights one of the King’s most consistent advocacies: religious tolerance. Early in his reign, during his first 100 days in 2022, he visited a Jewish community center in London, even joining in a Hora dance at a Hanukkah celebration. At his 2023 coronation, he made a point of meeting with leaders from various non-Christian faiths, including Judaism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.
King Charles’s commitment to a pluralistic approach has, at times, led to controversy. In 1994, long before his ascension to the throne, he suggested he envisioned his role as a ‘defender of faith’ in a general sense, a statement widely interpreted as acknowledging Britain’s increasing religious diversity. He later clarified his position, stating that ‘While at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths.’
Later on Thursday, in a second ecumenical ceremony, King Charles was slated to receive the honorary title of Royal Confrater, which formally acknowledges the enduring historical links between the British monarchy and Rome’s Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. Further cementing this bond, the Vatican commissioned a special chair for the King and his descendants, intricately decorated with the royal coat of arms and bearing the Latin inscription ‘Ut unum sint’ — ‘That they may be one’ — a powerful symbol of shared Christian belief.
A photograph captures members of the distinctive Swiss Guard marching in formation at the Vatican, shortly before the arrival of King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Prior to the public prayer service, the King and Queen held a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.
King Charles also engaged in discussions with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state. The Vatican released a statement confirming that their talks covered mutual interests such as environmental protection and global poverty alleviation.
Reverend Martin Browne, from the Vatican department dedicated to promoting Christian unity in Rome, explained before the visit that the services were orchestrated as a gesture ‘of our closeness and willingness to see one another as brothers and sisters despite differences.’ He emphasized, ‘That is clearly an important sign for the world, not just in terms of the ecumenical project but for humanity in general.’
Traditionally, the archbishop of Canterbury, who leads the Church of England, would accompany the King on such a visit to Rome. However, the Most Reverend Justin Welby stepped down last November following a report that criticized his failure to adequately investigate claims of extensive clerical abuse involving boys and young men. This month saw the historic appointment of the Right Reverend Sarah Mullally as the first woman to assume this prestigious role, though her official installation is anticipated early next year.
The ordination of women represents a significant doctrinal difference between the Anglican and Catholic traditions. While certain Anglican churches have welcomed female priests since the 1970s, the Vatican maintains its practice of ordaining only men. The Catholic Church has consistently deferred discussions on the potential ordination of women, even to the position of deacons, who are lower-ranking church ministers.
Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the Vatican department dedicated to Christian unity, openly recognized at a recent press briefing that the ordination of Anglican women poses a ‘potential problem’ for relations between the churches. Nevertheless, he asserted, ‘It is more urgent that we stay together, that we dialogue and that we continue to walk together.’
Upon her official installation, Archbishop-designate Mullally is expected to meet Pope Leo, consistent with the pontiff’s tradition of hosting church leaders in Rome. The Right Reverend Anthony Ball, the archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See, stated, ‘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.’
A visual captures Queen Camilla’s visit to the historic Pauline Chapel, renowned for its frescoes by Michelangelo depicting St. Paul and St. Peter.
However, theological experts caution that Pope Leo’s joint prayer with King Charles does not signify a complete alignment of views on all other issues that continue to create divisions between their respective churches.
For instance, Anglican priests are permitted to marry, and some Anglican congregations welcome openly gay clergy. In stark contrast, the Catholic Church mandates celibacy for its clerics and forbids openly gay individuals from serving in the clergy. Furthermore, divorced Catholics whose marriages have not been formally annulled are prohibited from remarrying in a church ceremony, whereas divorced Anglicans are permitted to remarry within the Church of England.
“We don’t have to change each other,” noted the Very Reverend Andrew McGowan, a professor of Anglican studies at the Yale Divinity School, summarizing the prevailing sentiment.
Experts largely agreed that neither the Pope nor the King would likely introduce contentious issues during their discussions. Reverend Thomas J. Reese, a senior analyst at Religion News Service and a seasoned Vatican observer, humorously put it: “There’s certain topics you don’t bring up at Thanksgiving dinner. You know where everybody stands, and so the effort is to see where we can work together.”
The King’s visit had initially been planned to coincide with the 10th anniversary of ‘Laudato Si,’ Pope Francis’s seminal encyclical addressing the urgent need to protect the planet’s health. Both leaders share a strong commitment to environmental causes: Pope Leo has forcefully advocated for global action to ensure that the impact of climate change does not disproportionately burden the poor, while King Charles has consistently warned of the existential threat that rising carbon emissions pose to humanity.