King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV put a 500-year-long argument behind them, as the two men prayed together at a service inside Vatican City’s Sistine Chapel.
England split from the Catholic Church under Henry VIII in 1534, after the Vatican refused to annul his first marriage. In order to secure the divorce he craved, which would allow him to marry Anne Boleyn, Henry established the Church of England and appointed himself its supreme governor.
Neither Henry nor any of his predecessors, dating back to 1066, ever met the pope. That was repeated faithfully until the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, who met four popes but drew the line at praying with them.
All that changed on Thursday when the two men bowed their heads under the same roof, decorated with Michelangelo’s frescoes, in a symbolic gesture aimed at signaling a ceasefire in the centuries-old rift between Anglicanism and Catholicism.
The king, as supreme governor of the Church of England, joined the pontiff, 88, in a prayer for unity and peace, an image intended to embody reconciliation, tolerance, and spiritual renewal.
During the ceremony, the Vatican named Charles, 76, as the first Royal Confrater of the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. At the same time, the pope was made Papal Confrater of St George’s Chapel at Windsor, a reciprocal act designed to seal “a friendship of faiths.”
The two leaders also exchanged high orders of chivalry. The Pope was made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, while Charles and Queen Camilla, 88, were invested with the Vatican’s Order of Pope Pius IX.
For the Palace, the visit was intended to be a statement of moral authority and spiritual leadership, a moment to define the king’s reign in terms of unity and faith.
However, global attention has been drawn elsewhere, as the spiraling Prince Andrew story has overshadowed the royal message.
Days before the Vatican visit, the king’s disgraced brother formally dropped his Duke of York title amid renewed scandal over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and growing pressure over his taxpayer-supported lifestyle. Parliament may soon investigate his long-term lease on Royal Lodge—the sprawling Windsor home where he lives rent-free under a “peppercorn” arrangement.
Both Andrew and his brother Charles went through high-profile divorces from Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson, respectively. But the significance of their modern splits pales in comparison to Henry VIII’s decision to banish his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Although she was allowed to die peacefully—unlike two of his later wives who were executed—Catherine of Aragon was the powerful daughter of Spanish monarchs. Their estrangement and Henry’s rejection of the Roman Catholic Church shocked Europe and created a deep and lasting divide.
The Vatican visit, which is rich in symbolism, was designed to show the present king as a figure of faith and reconciliation. Yet for many watching in Britain, the sight of Charles kneeling before the altar in Rome seemed inescapably bound to the moral vacuum back home as his brother’s scandals hang over the House of Windsor.
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