25 October 2025

The King made a welcome visit to the Vatican this week. Following his initiative, Pope Leo invited him to come to the Vatican for a state visit. The central feature of the visit was a prayer service in the Sistine Chapel where the Chapel Choir sang alongside choristers from St. George’s, Windsor.

It wasn’t the first time that a monarch had worshipped in a Roman Catholic Church. Queen Elizabeth attended Vespers in Westminster Cathedral and had visited the Pope in Rome. However, this was the first time the Supreme Head of the Church of England worshipped with the Supreme Pontiff in five hundred years!

It has huge symbolic appeal. In these two men, the two denominations are personified – the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England with its Anglican Communion. It was styled as a joining of hands between the two great churches.

The Archbishop of York and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster were both in attendance. The Archbishop of York concluded the service of prayer by saying the Grace with the Pope. ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.’

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said, ‘The Sistine Chapel is a remarkable setting, but this was an even more remarkable moment and it underlines the determination of King Charles to honour faith and encourage intense co-operation …’

In the nearby church of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the King was made a royal confrater of the basilica and the abbey. In addition, he was given a specially carved wooden seat decorated with his coat of arms and the words, ‘Ut unum sint.’ These were taken from the prayer of Jesus ‘that they may be one’.