Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla will carry out a state visit to the Holy See to meet Pope Leo XIV.
The tour, which will take place in late October, will coincide with celebrations for the 2025 Papal Jubilee – a hugely symbolic time for the Catholic Church – and also commemorate the special relationship between the Church of England and the Catholic Church, reflecting this year’s Jubilee theme, Pilgrims of Hope.
The King and Queen last visited the Holy See earlier this year, where they had a private meeting with Pope Francis, shortly before his death at the age of 88.
The historic audience took place during Their Majesties’ state visit to the Republic of Italy after their planned state visit to the Holy See in April was rescheduled.
This year has also seen two other royal visits to the Holy See as the Prince of Wales represented his father at Pope Francis’s funeral in April, while the Duke of Edinburgh attended Pope Leo’s inauguration mass in Vatican City the following month.
While very little has been confirmed about the trip, Their Majesties will meet Pope Leo XIV, whose real name is Robert Prevost. He became the new head of the Catholic Church in May, after Pope Francis’s death on April 21.
During his long tenure as Prince of Wales, the King visited the Holy See on five occasions: April 1985, April 2005 for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, April 2009, April 2017 and October 2019 for the Canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
The Queen, meanwhile, joined the King on two trips while she was still the Duchess of Cornwall: April 2009 and April 2017.
As Prince of Wales, the King was received by Pope Benedict XVI during his 2009 visit and Pope Francis during his visits in 2017 and 2019. Charles also met Pope John Paul II in Canterbury in 1982—the first visit to the UK by a reigning Pope.
