Pope Leo and King Charles Say a Historic Joint Prayer at the Vatican

Kings Charles III and Benedict XVI are the first Church of England leaders in 500 years to pray together in public.

England’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla made history on Thursday when the king joined Pope Leo XIV in prayer in the Sistine Chapel. It was the first public act of worship between a pope and the head of the Church of England since the split in the 1600s.

Although King Henry VIII cut ties with the Holy See after failing to get his marriage to Catherine of Aragon revoked, the meeting between King Charles and Pope Francis during his state visit to the Vatican was a rare moment of unity between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.

According to the Vatican, “Charles and Leo will pray together in public for the first time since Henry VIII left the Catholic Church because the pope refused to annul his marriage to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon.”

Pope Leo XIV met King Charles and Queen Camilla for the first time since he was elected in May after Pope Francis died.

Officials at the palace say that the visit comes at a tough time for the British monarch because of the renewed focus on his brother, Prince Andrew, and his claimed role in the scandal involving the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The event is the latest chapter in the long history of the royal family’s bond with the Holy See. Prior to the split between the churches in the 1600s, the late Queen Elizabeth II, the king’s mother, was the first British ruler to visit the Vatican in 1961.

Others see Thursday’s prayer as a sign of peace and communication between two of the most important Christian groups in the world.