King Charles III of the United Kingdom, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and Pope Leo worshipped together in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican on Thursday in a moment heralded as a healing of history. It is the first joint prayer in which an English monarch and a Catholic pontiff have ever been present since the break with Rome of King Henry VIII in 1534, almost half a millennium ago.
🔴 King Charles prays with Pope Leo in 500-year first https://t.co/wEhfpkvDOy pic.twitter.com/iXGlLDuKO7
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 23, 2025
The service, which was chaired by Pope Leo and Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York, was full of a strong sense of reconciliation, with Latin songs and English prayers reverberating under Michelangelo The Last Judgment. The incident highlights the fast-growing relationship between the Catholic Church, which is headed by the first American Pope, and the Anglican Communion.
Anglican Rev. James Hawkey said there is a feeling that this scene in the remarkable context of the Sistine Chapel provides some sort of healing of history. It is a symbol of the distance our churches have traveled during the past 60 years of discussion.
King Charles was also given a signal honor later in his visit to the state after a private meeting with the Pope earlier in the day. Pope Leo granted the King the special title of Royal Confrater, or brother, at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.
Moreover, the King had been presented with a seat in the apse of the basilica specially reserved to all future kings of Britain, a wooden chair, upon which the coat of arms of the King and the ecumenical motto, Ut unum sint (That they may be one), were painted.
Anglican Bishop Anthony Ball, the Anglican ambassador to the Vatican, said that the honors demonstrated the dedication of the two largest Christian traditions in the world to working towards a common future, and that the relationship between the two was on a good path.
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