King and Pope to make 1st official joint prayer ever

This state visit, the sovereign's first since the election of Leo XIV last May, is part of the Jubilee, an event celebrated every 25 years by the Catholic Church. The Vatican and Buckingham Palace highlighted this aspect when announcing the event on October 17.

Queen Elizabeth II visited Rome for the Jubilee in 2000, during the pontificate of John Paul II.

At the Apostolic Palace, the royal couple will meet Pope Leo XIV, who will receive them in an audience at 11 a.m. in his private library. The king will then meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

This will be followed at noon by a moment of prayer in the Sistine Chapel, dedicated to the protection of creation, in the presence of Pope Leo XIV and the two royal guests.

According to Buckingham Palace, this will be the first official joint prayer between a head of the Catholic Church and a British sovereign — who is the supreme governor of the Church of England — since the schism between the two churches.

This unprecedented ecumenical moment will be led by the choirs of the Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace, St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, and the Sistine Chapel.

At 12:45 p.m., to conclude this visit to the Vatican, the pontiff and the king will meet with members of the Roman Curia, entrepreneurs, and associations involved in the field of environmental care, under the frescoes of the Sala Regia.

Charles III will then visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, south of Rome, a symbolic place of ecumenical commitment. This basilica, built on the tomb of St. Paul, is where the pope concludes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity each year on January 25, in the presence of representatives of various Christian denominations.

It was also in front of this basilica that Paul VI removed his episcopal ring and slipped it onto the finger of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, after the signing of a joint declaration on March 23, 1966.

During his visit, Charles III will receive the honorary title of “Royal Confrater” (royal brother) of the Benedictine abbey that has been active there since the 8th century. On this occasion, a parchment bearing the title will be presented to the sovereign. A seat decorated with the monarch's coat of arms and the ecumenical motto “Ut unum sint” will be installed in the apse of the basilica, where it will be reserved for the king and his successors.

This attribution is an initiative of the basilica, its archpriest Cardinal James Michael Harvey, and the abbot, who have received the Pope's approval. The title of Royal Confrater “in no way alters” the king's constitution as governor of the Church of England, nor does it entail “any duty or obligation for the king,” Buckingham Palace said.

With this gesture, the abbey is reviving an ancient tradition. St. Paul's Outside the Walls has a historical link with the English monarchy. In Anglo-Saxon times, the British king was its protector, just as the king of France had a special connection with the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the king of Spain with St. Mary Major, and the Habsburg family with St. Peter's. The Anglo-Saxon sovereigns provided financial support for the maintenance of the tomb of the Apostle Paul.

Relations between the English crown and the building became strained with the schism. “But the historical link has not been destroyed,” explained Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, explaining the significance of the event.

The archbishop cited the symbol of the Order of the Garter—England's highest distinction—which can still be found in the basilica's coat of arms. This order was conferred by Henry VIII, the monarch who initiated the break with the Roman Church.

Although the title granted to Charles III is new and specially created for the occasion, it is part of the tradition of “confraternities” developed around abbeys and is strictly “spiritual,” Archbishop Pace explained. It does not establish any “legal” link between the English court and the Roman basilica and does not imply any formal role for the king.

It is a “gesture of hospitality and ecumenical welcome that bears witness to the historical links and recognizes the recent path of rapprochement” between the two Churches.

The insignia that Charles III will receive will be equivalent to the title of first and only honorary canon of St. John Lateran, which is given to French presidents. “It is a purely honorary link with no consequences, but one that illustrates the good relations between Rome and the Anglican Church,” said a Roman canonist.

For this visit, the king will be accompanied by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, the “number three” in the Church of England, who has been acting as primate since Justin Welby's resignation. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, whose official installation has not yet taken place, will not be present.

This event was originally planned for last April during the pontificate of Francis. However, the Argentine pontiff's health prevented it from taking place. The royal couple finally met the pope informally on April 9, a dozen days before his death.

In recent decades, diplomatic relations between Rome and the United Kingdom, long marked by mistrust since the 16th century, have gradually warmed. Following Queen Elizabeth II's first visit to the Vatican in 1961 and the reestablishment of an embassy to the Holy See in 1982—the year of John Paul II's visit to London—this new visit is part of a “warm” friendship between the two churches, Buckingham Palace said.