Charles and Camilla will be in the Vatican on Thursday, October 23. A quick visit, but one packed with events and meaning. The British royals will be in Rome for the Jubilee, as Queen Elizabeth did in 2000. But the visit will have significant ecumenical significance, including a prayer in the Sistine Chapel where Charles, who is also head of the Anglican Church, will pray in public with the Pope. This hasn't happened in five centuries, or since the Anglican Reformation. Climate and sustainability will also be discussed, topics dear to both the British monarch and the Holy See. Charles and Camilla will arrive in Rome on October 22, but the state visit to the Vatican will take place only on the 23rd, when Charles will arrive at 10:45 a.m. in the Cortile di San Damaso. At 11 a.m., there will be an audience with Pope Leo XIV. This will be followed by a moment of ecumenical prayer in the Sistine Chapel, followed by an event in the Sala Regia dedicated to the care of creation.
In the afternoon, the royal program (without the Pope's presence) will continue at St. Paul Outside the Walls, for another ecumenical celebration, and then at Beda College. On one side, there will be a reception for the king, and on the other, a meeting between the queen and several nuns, particularly those working to combat human trafficking. During Charles and Camilla's visit, a seat for the king will be placed in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, for the celebration, which will be held in the Catholic basilica.
The chair will remain in the Roman church, even after the visit—and this, along with the prayer with the Pope, is another historic sign—underscoring the dialogue between the two Churches, the Catholic and the Anglican. Charles will also be awarded the title of "Royal Confrater." During his visit to St. Paul's Basilica, King Charles may pass through the Holy Door of the Jubilee. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, the first woman to hold this office, will not be in the Vatican for the royal visit because, as explained in a briefing, she will not take office until March 2026. The king will be accompanied, especially for the celebrations, by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell. The fact that Mullally is not yet fully in his role effectively eliminates a potential problem, as the ordination of women priests and then bishops raises some concerns in the dialogue with the Catholic Church.
Monsignor Flavio Pace, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, explains that in both 2006 and 2016, the joint declarations between the Holy See and the Church of England "explained the steps taken and named the difficulties," but "we must not stop moving forward on the journey." "It is more urgent that we stand together, that we dialogue," Catholics and Anglicans.
Charles arrives in the Vatican just days after Pope Leo proclaimed Cardinal John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. In 2019, when he was still Prince of Wales, he wrote in L'Osservatore Romano: "His example is more necessary than ever: for the way he, at his best, defended without accusing, disagreed without disrespecting, and perhaps, above all, for the way he saw differences as places of encounter rather than exclusion."
(Unioneonline)
