Reports describing the meeting of King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV on 23 October 2025 stress the ecumenical nature of the visit to the Vatican of the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The events of this visit based on these reports are summarized below.
Ecumenical prayer service in the Sistine Chapel
The Ecumenical prayer service in Sistine Chapel (with video) is reviewed by Vatican News, and the essential elements summarized by the Religion Media Centre are:
The 20-minute service took the care of creation as its theme, “a cause close to the King’s heart”.
There was no joint kneeling at the altar.
The King and Queen joined in congregational responses which lasted a matter of seconds, and the congregation said the grace.
The foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, read the lesson Romans 8 vv 22-27, “from the KJV bible beloved of the King, speaking of hope from the bondage of corruption: ‘the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now’”.
Vatican News added:
“This visit marked a historic moment in Anglican-Catholic relations—one that has not occurred in 500 years. Two themes marked the journey: Christian unity and care for the environment. Originally scheduled for April, the visit was cancelled due to Pope Francis’ ill health. One of its goals was to highlight the shared commitment of King Charles and the Argentine Pope to the care of Creation — ten years after the publication of the encyclical Laudato si’.
Other points of note are:
For the audience with the Pope, Queen Camilla was dressed in black, in accordance with papal protocol, which requires women who are not Catholic to wear a black ensemble and a black veil, or shawl, over their head. Only Catholic royal women have the “le privilège du blanc” (the privilege of the white) when having an audience with the Pope. The late Queen Elizabeth II wore a similar ensemble with a mantilla when having audiences with Pope John Paul II in 1980 and 2000
Given the position of the Roman Catholic Church on women priests, it was perhaps fortuitous that the Church of England was represented by The Most Revd Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, currently the most senior clergy representative; Bishop Sarah Mullaly is at present Archbishop of Canterbury–designate, (prior to becoming ABC-elect, and then Archbishop of Canterbury).
Ecumenical service in the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St Paul’s Outside the Walls
Afterwards, the King and Queen attended an ecumenical service in the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls [*], where the King became “Royal Confrater” of the Abbey of St. Paul. He was given a specially created seat, a gift of “confraternity”, spiritual fellowship, symbolising the link between the monarchy and the Basilica where, by tradition, reconciliation and ecumenism are celebrated”. The stall bears the Gospel inscription Ut unum sint, (That they may be one).
The ecumenical service in the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls is described in detail by Vatican News. including the music by Gibbons and Byrd.
Monarchs and Popes
Questions on social media have sought the clarity the last occasion on which the monarch “prayed with” the pope “in the last 500 years”. The Daily Mail reported the recent event as “The first British monarch in 500 years to pray in public with a pope”, of which there have been a number of examples of the late Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles, both recently and as Prince of Wales. Aside from use of the term “British monarch”, an article in the Catholic Herald by Mark McGinness, When Holiness and Majesty Meet, reviews events back to 853, when a five-year-old Prince Alfred was sent to Rome where he was confirmed by Leo IV. In 855, he joined his father, King Æthelwulf of Wessex, and again met (and presumably prayed) with the Pope. Sixteen years later, young Alfred would succeed his brother and is now venerated as Alfred the Great.
Alfred the Great was never formally canonised by the Roman Catholic Church; in Common Worship he is commemorated as a “Christian Ruler” on the date of his death in AD 899. On 26 October 2025, the achievements of Alfred the Great, (c. 849 – 26 October 899), were again being marked in his birthplace, Wantage, with an Alfredfest event.
[*]Though often confused, the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St Paul’s Outside the Walls is completely different from Saint Paul’s Within the Walls, which is Anglican, built in the 19th century, notable for its mosaics by Edward Burne-Jones.