This historic moment of the visit of British King Charles III and Queen Camilla will take place in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican on Thursday, October 23. It will be an ecumenical prayer for the Care of Creation, to be presided over by Pope Leo XIV.
Quoting Buckingham Palace and the Church of England, the BBC has highlighted that King Charles will be the first British monarch to pray with a Pope since the separation from Rome of King Henry VIII. In addition, the Pope is American-born.
The service will bring together clergy and choirs from both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England (Anglican), of which King Charles III is supreme governor. The visit is seen as an important symbol of reconciliation.
Strong ecumenical value and attention to integral ecology
The Vatican has reported that the state visit of King Charles and Queen Camilla is a meeting that will have a strong ecumenical value. And also with a special focus on integral ecology, given the British King's commitment to environmental causes.
The arrival of the sovereigns in Rome is scheduled for the 22nd. The King and Queen will be received on the 23rd in the Courtyard of San Damaso, and at 11:00 a.m. the audience with the Pope will take place. Then, Queen Camilla will visit the Pauline Chapel, and King Charles will meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin at the Secretariat of State. They will then go to the Sistine Chapel for ecumenical prayer.
King Charles, 'Royal Confrater' of São Paulo
On Thursday afternoon, the King and Queen will visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which, together with the Benedictine abbey annexed to it, maintains a strong bond with the Crown of England. The secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Monsignor Flavio Pace, pointed out that the coat of arms of the abbey bears the emblem of the Order of the Garter. This is one of the highest English distinctions.
Afterwards, Cardinal James Michael Harvey, and Abbot Dom Donato Ogliari, will confer on King Charles III the title of 'Royal Confrater' of St. Paul. The main reason is the historical ties and the progress made in the path of reconciliation between the Church of Rome and the Church of England.
The hymn of St. Ambrose
In the ecumenical prayer at noon, the psalms and readings will be centered on praise to God the Creator. Msgr. Pace stressed that the ecumenical character will also be reflected at the beginning in the hymn. The text is by St. Ambrose of Milan, but it will be interpreted in an English translation by St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican for half of his life and a Catholic for the other half.
Next November 1, an important delegation of the Anglican Church will arrive for the proclamation of St. John Henry Newman as Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV. King Charles was present at the cardinal's canonization in 2019. Subsequently, the British royalty held a private meeting with Pope Francis before his passing on April 21.
Coronation "profoundly Christian" in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II
The coronation The ceremony, which was presided over by King Charles III, and Queen Camilla by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was "profoundly Christian", with participation from "the full spectrum of Christian denominations".
The impression is that Charles III is following in the wake of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, 2022. In her later years, Elizabeth II was increasingly explicit in her profession of religious faith, mainly through her annual Christmas messages, a tradition begun by her grandfather, George V, in 1932, and continued by her father, George VI.
Thus Elizabeth II spoke of her faith: "For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal responsibility before God provide a framework within which I try to conduct my life. I, like many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from the words and example of Christ."
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