Oct. 17 (UPI) — King Charles III plans to visit Pope Leo XIV next week in the Vatican as the first reigning English monarch since 1534 to pray in a service with the pontiff.
Charles, along with his wife, Queen Camilla, will visit the Vatican on Wednesday and Thursday. They will appear with the pope during a service on Thursday at the Sistine Chapel, where a special seat has been created for Charles.
The chapel was dedicated on Aug. 15, 1483. Michelangelo painted the ceiling from 1508 to 1512.
Henry VIII split from the Vatican 22 years later.
Buckingham Palace on Sept. 26 announced the state visit to the Holy See for late October in the church’s 25th Jubilee Year to “celebrate the ecumenical work by the Church of England and the Catholic Church, reflecting the Jubilee year’s theme of walking together as ‘Pilgrims of Hope.'”
The royal couple had a private meeting with Pope Francis on April 9 in celebration of their 20th wedding anniversary. It took place at Casa Santa Marta hospital in Rome, 12 days before he died.
In 1961, Queen Elizabeth II was the first British monarch since the Reformation to visit the Holy See. Queen Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022, and Charles became king.
“It marks a historic moment in the journey of reconciliation between our Churches,” Archbishop Flavio Pace said in a Vatican press briefing Friday. “It celebrates how far we’ve come — and offers hope for the future.”
This gathering will bring together members of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England, of which the king is the supreme governor.
“This will be the first state visit, since the Reformation, where the pope and the monarch will pray together in an ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel, and the first time the monarch will have attended a service in St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, a church with an historic connection to the English crown,” a Buckingham spokesman told the Guardian.
They also will visit the adjacent Benedictine Abbey. This church, which contains the tomb of St. Paul, had been associated with the English monarchy dating to medieval and Anglo-Saxon rulers who helped with the upkeep.
King Charles will also be honored with the title of Royal Confrater, “recognizing the long-standing ties between the British Crown and the Benedictine abbey attached to the basilica,” Vatican News said.
During the service with the pope, there will be a hymn by Saint Ambrose of Milan sung in an English translation by Saint John Henry Newman, who was canonized in 2019. King Charles attended that event.
Music will be provided by the Sistine Chapel Choir, alongside choristers from the Chapel Royal at St. James’ Palace and the Choir of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The king and queen will also meet Vatican officials.
The Vatican said the “two central themes of the Royal visit are Christian unity and care for the planet.”
The Roman Catholic Church has approximately 1.4 billion members with 20.4% in Europe, including 6.2 million baptized Roman Catholics in England and Wales, and 676,000 in Scotland.
The Church of England is the largest Christian denomination in Britain with 13.3 million followers. The church originated in the break from the Vatican and features Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.