King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV pray together in Sistine Chapel, a historic first since Reformation, symbolizing ecumenical unity during Vatican state visit.
Newsroom (23/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) In a moment laden with historical weight, King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV knelt side by side in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, October 23, 2025, their voices joined in prayer beneath the towering frescoes of Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment.” The ecumenical service, the first of its kind since the Protestant Reformation sundered ties between the English monarchy and the papacy nearly 500 years ago, marked a profound milestone in the journey toward Christian unity. For the first time, a reigning British monarch and a pope prayed together during a royal state visit to the Vatican, a gesture that reverberated with the promise of reconciliation and shared purpose.
The midday prayer of the Divine Office, led by Pope Leo XIV, unfolded in an atmosphere of solemn reverence. Flanking the pontiff were Anglican Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, King Charles, and Queen Camilla, their presence a vivid symbol of ecumenical progress. The Sistine Chapel Choir, joined by the choirs of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, filled the sacred space with the ancient hymn “Come, Holy Ghost, Who Ever One,” composed by St. Ambrose and translated into English by St. John Henry Newman. The choice of hymn was no coincidence: Pope Leo will declare Newman, the 19th-century Anglican convert and cardinal, a doctor of the Church on November 1, a recognition of his enduring theological legacy and his role as a bridge between Catholic and Anglican traditions.
The service itself wove together the shared heritage of the two traditions. Verses from Psalms 8 and 64 were sung in Latin and English, their words echoing through the chapel’s hallowed walls. A reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:22–27), proclaiming the Spirit’s intercession in human weakness, preceded a joint closing prayer offered by Pope Leo and Archbishop Cottrell in English. The congregation, which included cardinals, bishops, and Anglican representatives, bore witness to a moment that transcended centuries of division, embodying the 2025 Jubilee Year’s theme of “Pilgrims of Hope.”
A Symbolic Exchange of Honors
The prayer service was the centerpiece of King Charles’ first state visit to the Holy See since his accession in 2022, a visit postponed earlier this year due to the declining health of Pope Francis, who died shortly thereafter. The visit was rich with symbolic gestures, none more significant than the mutual conferral of honors. Pope Leo approved the title of “Royal Confrater” of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls for King Charles, to be formally bestowed by Cardinal James Michael Harvey, the basilica’s archpriest, during an afternoon ecumenical service at the tomb of St. Paul. In a reciprocal gesture, Pope Leo accepted the title of “Papal Confrater” of St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, where King Charles serves as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
“These mutual gifts of ‘confraternity’ are recognitions of spiritual fellowship and are deeply symbolic of the journey the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church have traveled over the past 500 years,” the British Embassy to the Holy See declared in a statement. The titles evoke a shared spiritual kinship, harking back to a time before the Reformation when English monarchs were recognized as protectors of the Basilica of St. Paul and its adjacent abbey.
The visit also saw the exchange of high honors. King Charles conferred upon Pope Leo the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, a prestigious British chivalric honor. In return, the pope bestowed upon the king the Knight Grand Cross with the Collar of the Vatican Order of Pope Pius IX and upon Queen Camilla the Dame Grand Cross of the same order. These gestures underscored the deepening diplomatic and spiritual ties between the Vatican and the British Crown.
A Shared Commitment to Global Challenges
Before the Sistine Chapel service, King Charles and Queen Camilla met privately with Pope Leo in the Apostolic Palace, followed by discussions with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister. The talks centered on shared priorities: environmental protection, poverty alleviation, and the promotion of ecumenical dialogue. “Particular attention was given to the shared commitment to promoting peace and security in the face of global challenges,” the Holy See Press Office noted. Later, in the Apostolic Palace’s Sala Regia, the king and pope joined business and church leaders for a discussion on environmental sustainability, reflecting their mutual dedication to “care for creation.”
The state visit comes at a poignant moment for King Charles, who has continued his public duties while undergoing treatment for cancer, diagnosed in early 2024. His commitment to this historic trip underscores its significance, both personally and institutionally, as a testament to his lifelong engagement with ecumenical and environmental causes.
Reviving Ancient Ties
The visit’s itinerary included a stop at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, a site steeped in historical resonance for Anglo-Vatican relations. In the sixth and seventh centuries, Roman monk-missionaries such as St. Augustine of Canterbury and St. Paulinus of York brought Christianity to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, forging ties between England and Rome. Saxon rulers like Kings Offa and Æthelwulf contributed to the upkeep of the apostles’ tombs in Rome, and by the late Middle Ages, English monarchs were recognized as protectors of the Basilica of St. Paul, their heraldic shields adorned with the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The Reformation severed these ties, ushering in centuries of estrangement.
Thursday’s visit marked a revival of this ancient connection. A newly commissioned chair, inscribed with the royal coat of arms and the Latin phrase “Ut unum sint” (“That they may be one”), was installed in the basilica for King Charles and his successors, a tangible symbol of renewed fellowship. The phrase, drawn from Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21, encapsulates the ecumenical aspiration for Christian unity, a cause championed by both the king and the pope.
A Monarch’s Ecumenical Journey
King Charles’ engagement with the Vatican is not new. As Prince of Wales, he visited the Holy See multiple times, attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005 and the canonization of St. John Henry Newman in 2019. Earlier this year, he became the first British monarch to visit the Birmingham Oratory, founded by Newman in 1848. His final papal audience before Thursday’s state visit was with Pope Francis in April 2025, shortly before Francis’ death. Unlike those earlier encounters, this visit carried the weight of a formal state occasion, amplified by the unprecedented shared prayer in the Sistine Chapel.
The historical significance of the moment is heightened by comparison to the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, who met five popes over her 70-year reign but never participated in a public prayer with any of them. The Reformation, initiated by Henry VIII’s break with Rome in the 1530s, cast a long shadow over Anglo-Vatican relations, rendering such a public act of worship unthinkable for centuries. Thursday’s service, therefore, stands as a landmark in the slow, deliberate work of healing that divide.
A Jubilee of Hope
The timing of the visit aligns with the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, a period of spiritual renewal centered on the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope.” Buckingham Palace emphasized that the state visit celebrates both the jubilee and “the ecumenical work between the Church of England and the Catholic Church,” reflecting the shared journey toward unity. The prayer service, the mutual conferral of honors, and the discussions on global challenges all embodied this spirit of collaboration, signaling a future where differences, while acknowledged, no longer preclude shared worship or purpose.
As King Charles and Pope Leo stood together in the Sistine Chapel, their prayer was not merely a diplomatic gesture but a profound act of faith, one that honored the past while looking toward a future of greater unity. In the words of the hymn they sang, they invoked the Holy Spirit to guide their churches—and the world—toward a shared hope. For a moment, under Michelangelo’s frescoes, history paused, and the possibility of reconciliation shone through.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
Related Images:
