Britain’s King Charles and Pope Leo made history on Thursday, October 23, as they prayed together inside the Sistine Chapel, marking the first joint act of worship between an English monarch and a Catholic pontiff since King Henry VIII’s break from Rome in 1534.
The solemn service echoed with Latin chants and English prayers beneath Michelangelo’s famed frescoes, symbolizing a powerful gesture of reconciliation nearly five centuries after the split between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff elected six months ago, presided over the worship alongside Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, while choirs from the Sistine Chapel and the British royal chapels performed sacred hymns.
King Charles, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, was seated to the Pope’s left near the altar throughout the service. Despite previous royal visits to the Vatican and papal trips to Britain, this was the first occasion in modern history that the two churches’ leaders joined in prayer.
The King and Queen Camilla are in the Vatican on a state visit aimed at strengthening ties between the Catholic and Anglican communions after centuries of division.
Anglican theologian Rev. James Hawkey, canon of Westminster Abbey, described the moment as “a kind of healing of history,” noting that such a joint prayer would have been unthinkable just a generation ago. He added that the encounter reflects “how far both churches have come in sixty years of dialogue.”
The centuries-old rift traces back to 1534, when Pope Clement VII refused to annul King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, prompting England’s formal separation from Rome. While Henry’s desire for a male heir triggered the schism, it also led to the seizure of church assets and the rise of Protestantism, sparking decades of religious turmoil.
Earlier in the day, Charles and Camilla held a private audience with Pope Leo. Later, the King is scheduled to visit Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of Catholicism’s most revered sites, where Pope Leo has approved conferring upon him the honorary title of “Royal Confrater”—Latin for brother—at the adjoining abbey.