King Charles III’s state visit to the Vatican got underway on Thursday, when he will become the first British monarch to pray with a pope in 500 years, after a bruising week back home with the continued fallout over the Prince Andrew scandal.
King Charles and Queen Camilla met Pope Leo XIV for the first time since his May election on Thursday morning, following their arrival in Rome the previous evening to celebrate the holy Jubilee year, which takes place every quarter of a century.
The couple landed at Ciampino airport and were greeted by a delegation including the UK’s Ambassador to the Holy See.
On Thursday, beneath the Sistine Chapel’s vaulted ceiling, meticulously painted by Michelangelo, Charles will pray with the pontiff in a special ecumenical service – a first since at least the Reformation.
The service will focus on care of creation, a long-standing concern of the King’s and a topic which Pope Leo has highlighted early in his pontificate. It will be presided over by Leo and the Church of England’s Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.
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