The supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church joined with the British monarch for a joint prayer in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, breaking an ecumenical barrier that has existed for approximately 500 years.
It was a celebration of the Anglican and Catholic traditions, emphasizing their shared history while also highlighting the extant schism that has kept them apart since the 16th century.
Pope Leo XIV presided over the service alongside Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, Primate of England and the second-highest-ranking cleric in the Church of England. King Charles III and Queen Camilla joined in prayer from seats on the side of the altar.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper led a Bible reading, and senior clergy of both churches were in attendance. Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh Leo Cushley, a representative of the Scottish Catholic episcopacy, was also in attendance.
“Come, Holy Ghost, Who Ever One,” a hymn first translated into English by John Henry Newman, an Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism and eventually became a cardinal under Pope Leo XIII — the namesake of the current pontiff.
The two monarchs had met privately at the Apostolic Palace ahead of the service — a meeting years in the making.
King Charles initially intended to participate in a similar ecumenical service with the late Pope Francis as part of his broader campaign of fostering interfaith dialogue.
The pontiff’s ailing health and subsequent death put an end to that initiative, but Leo quickly reaffirmed the Holy See’s willingness to meet.
“Particular attention was given to the shared commitment to promoting peace and security in the face of global challenges,” the Holy See noted.
The king also met with the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, who represented the Holy See at his coronation in 2023. It was the first such envoy of goodwill from the Vatican since the 16th-century schism.
Pope Leo and King Charles swapped tokens of gratitude — the pontiff was named a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Bath, and the king was made Knight Grand Cross with the Collar of the Vatican Order of Pope Pius IX.
Following the brief midday prayer service, King Charles and Queen Camilla were spirited to the papal basilica known as St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, where the monarch was given a more permanent gift that will stay in Rome.
Cardinal James Michael Harvey and Abbot Donato Ogliari, the titular archpriest of the basilica and prelate of the abbey, respectively, named the king a royal confrater of Saint Paul — in layman’s terms, a royal associate.
A special chair has been commissioned for the occasion, bearing Charles’s coat of arms and the Latin phrase Ut unum sint — “that they may be one” in English.
The phrase is from a passage of the Gospel of John in which Jesus Christ, prior to his betrayal and crucifixion, prays to God the Father that all his believers would be unified.
It is a commonly cited passage in the context of Christian ecumenicalism, with the understanding that in an ideal world, all Christians would be part of the same, undivided church.
“This gift of ‘confraternity’, offered by the Archpriest of the Basilica and approved by the Pope, is a recognition of spiritual fellowship,” Buckingham Palace said of the occasion. “Together with the creation of a new seat for His Majesty, which will remain in the Basilica, it is a mark of friendship which reflects the mutual respect between Pope Leo and His Majesty as Heads of State.”
The Benedictine monastery attached to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls once enjoyed patronage from the British Crown, dating back to seventh-century Saxon kings who provided funds to Rome for the upkeep of St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s tombs.
This relationship was ultimately shattered by the English Reformation.
King Henry VIII, once a devout follower of the pope, who styled the British leader as a “Defender of the Faith,” broke from Rome in 1534 over the pontiff’s refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
Henry nationalized the church, executed clergy members who would not renounce allegiance to the Holy See, and declared himself the supreme governor of the Church of England.
Since then, British monarchs have maintained the largely ceremonial position, and those royals who convert to Catholicism are automatically excluded from the line of succession.
Despite his role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, King Charles has consciously positioned himself as something of a panreligious leader in ecumenical dialogue.
“I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country,” the then-prince said in 2015. “And it’s always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths.”
The Church of England named its first-ever female Archbishop of Canterbury this month, Sarah Mullally. The position is considered the “first among equals” in the worldwide Anglican Communion and the presiding cleric to whom member churches must acknowledge communion.
It was a shocking decision that threatens to force out those who believe in male-only apostolic succession — the concept that the Christian priesthood has been passed down directly since the apostles by the laying-on of hands.
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For many who subscribe to this theological view, the all-male apostles passed the priesthood down strictly to men, and women are unable to be ordained.
Multiple Anglican churches in communion with Canterbury — many in conservative African countries — have refused to acknowledge Mullally’s legitimacy as the archbishop.
