King, Pope Pray Together at Sistine Chapel in Historic Symbol of Reconciliation Between Churches

King Charles III of the United Kingdom prayed alongside Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday, an ecumenical service intended to build ties between the long estranged Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

A British monarch has publicly prayed alongside a Pope for what is said by Buckingham Palace to be the first time since the Reformation some 500 years ago, and quite possibly a great deal longer than that. King Charles III of the United Kingdom, who is also monarch of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and 10 other nations besides is on a state visit to the Vatican with the Queen Consort, Camilla, which is focussing on building reconciliation between the Anglican Church of England, of which the King is the Supreme Governor, and the Catholic Church.

The King and Queen had private talks with the Pope at the Vatican Palace and attended joint prayers at the Sistine Chapel. An ecumenical service, it saw the Sistine Chapel Choir sing together with the choir from St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where the late Queen Elizabeth II is interred.

As well as the Royal couple and choir, the British party included the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell and the UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who gave a Bible reading. Archbishop Cottrell is at the Vatican this week because the newly-selected Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally — the first woman in history to hold the role — isn’t to be officially enthroned until Spring 2026.

Buckingham Palace said of the prayers today that the “special service” marks “the joining of hands between the Catholic Church and Church of England, in a celebration of ecumenism”. To celebrate this, there has been a mutual bestowing of honours between the King and Pope.

King Charles has made Pope Leo a Knight of the Bath, a senior order of British chivalry, and has made him a “Papal confrater” of St George’s Chapel. The Pope in return made the King a Knight of the Vatican Order of Pope Pius IX and a “Royal Confrateur” of the Abbey at St Paul’s Outside the Walls, an ancient Church that was once closely linked to the old English royals.

Buckingham Palace said: “These mutual gifts of ‘confraternity’ are recognitions of spiritual fellowship and are deeply symbolic of the journey the Church of England, of which His Majesty is Supreme Governor, and the Roman Catholic Church have travelled over the past 500 years”.

The Times of London notes while these ecumenical — meaning in this case the promotion of unity between the world’s churches — moves are being heavily asserted by London, the Vatican is being more reticent even as it hosts a Royal visit it initiated. It notes the Vatican has made no explicit references to King Charles being the supreme governor of the Church of England, given it doesn’t officially recognise the validity of Anglicanism.

It has been widely reported that today’s prayer meeting is the first time such a thing has happened since Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church in the 16th century, creating the Church of England. While this is technically true, it is also probably a gross understatement: given Henry VIII is not known to have ever met the Pope in his time nor travelled to Rome, it is likely a British or English King praying alongside a Pope will not have happened for well over the stated 500 years, and perhaps as many as 1,000 years or more.

As previously reported, King Canute, the Viking King of England is known to have made a pilgrimage to Rome in 1027 and met Pope John XIX. Sky News states the then-Prince of Wales, Charles, attempted to pray alongside Pope John Paul II when he visited the Vatican in 1985 but was banned by Queen Elizabeth II.