King Charles III is set to make history on Thursday when he meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and becomes the first head of the Church of England in five centuries to pray publicly with a pontiff.
The 76-year-old monarch, who serves as the supreme governor of the Church of England, arrived in Rome on Wednesday evening alongside Queen Camilla for what Buckingham Palace described as a “historic” state visit.
It will mark Charles’s first meeting with Pope Leo XIV since the American-born pontiff assumed leadership of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May, following the death of Pope Francis.
The royal couple will arrive at the Apostolic Palace at 10:45 a.m. (0845 GMT) for private talks with the pope before joining an ecumenical service at noon (1000 GMT) in the Sistine Chapel, led jointly by Pope Leo and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell — the senior cleric of the Church of England.
Broadcast live by Vatican media, the service represents a monumental gesture of reconciliation — the first time a reigning English or British monarch will pray publicly with a pope since King Henry VIII severed ties with Rome in 1534.
That schism, triggered by the pope’s refusal to annul Henry’s marriage, established the monarch as head of the newly formed Church of England.
Thursday’s service, held beneath Michelangelo’s renowned frescoes, will focus on environmental conservation, a cause long championed by King Charles. The event will unite the choirs of the Sistine Chapel and St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, blending Catholic and Anglican traditions in a rare display of spiritual unity.
Despite the enduring divide between London and Rome, relations between the two churches have warmed significantly over recent decades. Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to visit the Holy See since the Reformation in 1961. In 2013, British law was amended to allow royal family members to marry Catholics — though the monarch must remain Protestant.
“The rapprochement is important because Anglicanism was born in reaction to the Catholic Church, and therefore in opposition,” said Hyacinthe Destivelle, a French priest from the Vatican’s department for promoting Christian unity. He added that while theological differences persist, the spirit of cooperation has grown stronger in recent decades.
Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England ordains women and allows priests to marry. Sarah Mullally was recently appointed the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, though she has not yet assumed office.
During their stay, King Charles and Queen Camilla will also participate in a service at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome — one of the four major papal basilicas with deep historical ties to the English crown. The king will be formally inducted as a “Royal Confrater” of the basilica and presented with a specially crafted seat reserved for him and future British monarchs.
Charles has visited the Vatican several times before and met privately with Pope Francis in April, just days before the pontiff’s passing. The king later sent his son, Prince William, to attend Francis’s funeral and his brother, Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, to Pope Leo’s inauguration Mass.
The visit coincides with the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, a major event held every 25 years that draws millions of pilgrims to the Vatican. It also comes amid renewed scrutiny of the royal family following revelations surrounding Prince Andrew’s connection to the late U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein. The Duke of York recently announced his decision to relinquish his title, reportedly under pressure from King Charles.
As history and faith intertwine once more under the vaulted ceilings of the Sistine Chapel, Thursday’s meeting between King Charles and Pope Leo XIV stands as a powerful symbol of unity — one bridging centuries of division between Canterbury and Rome.
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