King Charles has made history after becoming the first reigning British monarch to pray publicly with a pope since Henry VIII split from Rome in 1534, an event perceived as a symbolic step in the reconciliation between the Catholic and Anglican churches.
The monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, joined Pope Leo for a service under Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, where in May Leo was elected the first US pontiff to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
The royal visit to the Vatican state comes at a sensitive time for Charles, 76, after his brother, Prince Andrew, agreed to give up his use of the Duke of York title amid concern about his relationship with the late convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The king, however, appeared to be in good spirits. Before the service, when he was greeted by Leo inside the Apostolic Palace, where the pontiff lives, the monarch pointed to the cameras recording the event and joked they were “a constant hazard”. Leo, 70, responded: “You get used to it.”
The Sistine Chapel service, which mixed Catholic and Anglican traditions, began with the Lord’s prayer in English. Hymns were sung by members of the Sistine Chapel choir and visiting members of two royal choirs: the St George’s Chapel choir of Windsor Castle and the children’s choir of the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace.
It was the first time a British monarch had prayed publicly with a pope since Henry VIII triggered a schism with the Catholic church over its refusal to annul his marriage so he could marry another woman. The monarch became the head of the separate Church of England.
Thursday’s service also generated criticism. A prominent Protestant cleric from Northern Ireland said Charles should abdicate if he prayed with the pope. Kyle Paisley, a reverend with the Free Presbyterian church and son of the late unionist politician Ian Paisley senior, told the BBC that the joint prayers would break the king’s oath to uphold the Protestant faith.
“The Protestant faith historically and theologically is a world apart from Catholicism. I don’t for the life of me see how he can engage in that kind of corporate worship,” he said. Asked if Charles should abdicate if the service went ahead, Paisley said: “Yes, because I don’t think he is being true to his oath.”
The Independent Loyal Orange Institution, a conservative Protestant organisation that supports Northern Ireland’s place in the UK, expressed “deep concern” about the service.
Charles and Camilla also visited the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, whose connection with the English crown stretches back to Saxon rulers. Charles was granted the title “royal confrater” of the abbey; a gift of “confraternity” is a recognition of spiritual fellowship.
Hendro Munsterman, the Vatican correspondent for the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, said it was a symbolic step in the reconciliation between the two churches that began in earnest in the 1960s.
“Just last month there was an important meeting during which many issues were discussed – the differences between Catholics and Anglicans are not big and this has been an ongoing discovery since the 1960s,” he said. “The king’s visit really symbolises that there is a communion and respect between the two.”
Charles and Camilla were last in the Vatican in April, when they paid a surprise visit to a convalescing Pope Francis during a state visit to Italy. Francis died later that month.
Charles wanted to return before the end of the Jubilee 2025, a year-long period of reflection and penance organised by the Catholic church every 25 years. His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, attended in 2000.
“This is a significant because it’s a pilgrimage-state visit,” added Munsterman.
The monarch was friendly with Francis and was determined to meet Leo, with whom he discussed peace, poverty and the environment, during the early stage of his papacy.
Iacopo Scaramuzzi, the Vatican correspondent for La Repubblica newspaper, said: “It seems the king was in a rush to come and see the pope in the early part of his pontificate – on the contrary, I don’t have the impression that Leo or Donald Trump want to meet so soon.”
Scaramuzzi said there was fear among conservative Catholics about the church getting too friendly with Anglicans. “They don’t want it to become too much like the Anglican one, for example with discussions on things like gay couples, gay marriage and women taking power. The [Catholic] church is evolving and while discussion on these themes is there, it is not exploding,” he said.
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