King Charles III to Pray with the Pope at the Vatican, a First

King Charles III will pray with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican during an ecumenical celebration in the Sistine Chapel, marking the first such event since the Anglican schism in the 16th century.

The 76-year-old monarch, who serves as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, arrived in Rome on Wednesday with his wife, Camilla, for this 'historic' visit, as described by Buckingham Palace.

This will be Charles III's first meeting with the new leader of the Catholic Church, who succeeded Pope Francis in May. He will be received at the Vatican's apostolic palace on Thursday morning.

A highlight of the visit will be their joint prayer during an ecumenical service at 12:00 PM (10:00 AM GMT) in the Sistine Chapel, beneath Michelangelo's famous frescoes, alongside religious leaders and officials.

This event marks the first time a pope and a British sovereign pray together publicly, signaling a renewed closeness between the two churches after decades of initiatives, including meetings between popes and the Archbishops of Canterbury, the spiritual leaders of the Church of England.

The 45-minute prayer, initiated by Charles III, will focus on the theme of nature conservation, an issue dear to the king, reflecting a convergence between the two churches on environmental matters, ten years after Pope Francis's encyclical "Laudato Si'" on integral ecology.

The service will blend Catholic and Anglican traditions, with the Sistine Chapel choir performing alongside the St. George's Chapel choir from Windsor.

Theological Disputes

Anglicanism originated in 1534 from a split with the Catholic Church, instigated by King Henry VIII's request for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which the pope denied.

In 1961, Charles's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, became the first British monarch to visit the Vatican since the schism.

"This is a historic event," says William Gibson, a professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford Brookes University. He notes that the British sovereign is legally required to be Protestant.

"From 1536 to 1914, there were no official diplomatic relations between the UK and the Holy See," he adds. London only opened an embassy at the Vatican in 1982.

It wasn't until 2013 that the law allowed royal family members marrying Catholics to retain their place in the line of succession, explains Gibson.

This recent rapprochement is significant given that Anglicanism emerged in opposition to the Catholic Church, as Fr. Hyacinthe Destivelle, a French Dominican priest and member of the dicastery for the promotion of Christian unity, points out.

Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church ordains women and allows priests to marry. For the first time in its history, it has appointed a woman as its leader, Sarah Mullally, a 63-year-old mother.

20 Million Baptized

On Thursday afternoon, Charles and Camilla will also attend another ecumenical service at St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four major basilicas in Rome.

During this service, the king will be made a "royal confrere," and a special seat will be created for him, which will remain in the basilica for future British monarchs.

Pope Leo XIV and Charles III will celebrate the jubilee year or Holy Year of the Catholic Church, which occurs every 25 years and attracts millions of pilgrims to the Vatican.

The royal couple privately met Pope Francis on April 9, just twelve days before his passing.

Charles III was represented by his son William at the funeral of the Argentine Jesuit, and later by his brother, Prince Edward, at the inauguration mass of Pope Leo XIV on May 18.

The Church of England, experiencing a decline, has about twenty million baptized members but estimates less than one million regular attendees, according to statistics from 2022.