King Charles was not short of his usual wit during his first meeting with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican today. The two men met in the Pope’s Library earlier this morning before attending a special ecumenical service inside the Sistine Chapel.
It was the first time Charles had met with the Pope since his election to the office in May. As they met inside the Vatican, the King pointed to the cameras recording the historic event, and said they were a “constant hazard”.
Pope Leo said, “You get used to it”, as he’s had to become accustomed to being such a public figure in the five months since his papal election.
Afterwards, the King, who is the head of the Church of England, and Camilla, sat in golden thrones on the raised altar of the Sistine Chapel, in front of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment,” while the Pope and the Anglican Archbishop of York presided over an ecumenical service.
The event marked the first time since the Reformation that the heads of the two Christian churches, divided for centuries over issues, have prayed together.
The Midday prayer saw the Children of the Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal and St George’s Chapel, Windsor perform If ye love me by Thomas Tallis, the 16th-century English Catholic composer.
The Choir of the Sistine Chapel and Lay Clerks from Windsor sang two Psalms together, and featured an introduction by the Pope and a reading by Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper.
The state visit to the Holy See, the government of the Roman Catholic Church in the Vatican, is understood to be deeply significant for the King personally and will celebrate the Papal Jubilee held every 25 years.
Charles will also be recognised for the British monarchy’s historic association with the basilica, the seat of a Benedictine Abbey, and will be made “Royal Confrater” of the abbey as, in centuries past, monarchs provided for the upkeep of the tomb of St Paul at the basilica.
The state visit will end with the King attending a reception at the Pontifical Beda College, a seminary training priests from across the Commonwealth, and the Queen will meet six Catholic sisters from the International Union of Superiors General.
Charles and Camilla were due to make the state visit to the Holy See in April, but the health problems of Pope Francis meant the trip was postponed, although the couple did privately meet the pontiff, who died later that month.
The King has also met two of Pope Leo’s predecessors – Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II.