A historic occasion occurred Oct. 23 when the King and Queen of England prayed alongside the Pope in the Sistine Chapel.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla joined Pope Leo XIV to pray Midday Prayer, which included a Gospel reading, hymns, and psalms sung and chanted by the Sistine Chapel Choir, the Children of the Chapel Royal of St. James’ Place, and the Lay Clerks of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, according to Vatican News. The opening hymn was written by St. Ambrose of Milan and translated by St. John Henry Newman, a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism, the outlet noted.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was one of the guests in attendance, along with Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York.
The service, themed around “Christian unity and care for the environment,” was originally scheduled to take place with Pope Francis in April, but it was canceled when the pontiff became ill, according to the outlet.
The Vatican Press Office said in a press release that the king and queen met first in a private audience with Pope Leo and then with the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
In the meeting with Cardinal Parolin, “appreciation was expressed for the good existing bilateral relations, and matters of common interest were discussed, such as environmental protection and the fight against poverty,” the release reads, adding that they also spoke about commitments to promoting peace and security. They also reflected on the history of the Church in the United Kingdom and the need to promote ecumenical dialogue.
The King and Queen also went to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls Oct. 23 for a special ecumenical celebration conferring the title of Royal Confrater on King Charles, Vatican News reported. Abbot Donato Ogliari presided over the ceremony, and Cardinal James Michael Harvey, archpriest of the basilica, also attended. The cardinal and abbot led the royal couple in a moment of prayer at the tomb of St. Paul the Apostle, according to the outlet. Later in the celebration, King Charles sat on a throne designed specifically for the ceremony that showed the royal coat of arms and an inscription in Latin that translated to “That they may be one.”
In a separate Oct. 23 Vatican News report, Father Martin Browne, a Benedictine monk and an official of the Dicastery for Promoting Unity, explained, “Traditionally, before the Reformation, the English sovereigns were known as the protectors of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. The Benedictine Abbey to this day still has a symbol of the British Order of the Garter, which is the highest order in the United Kingdom, as part of its coat of arms.”
Fr. Browne also commented that the king of England has not prayed in the same location as the Pope “since long before the separation of the Church of England from the Church of Rome.”
According to a third Oct. 23 Vatican News report, after the event at the Basilica, Queen Camilla also met with a group of women religious from the International Union of Superiors General at the Pontifical Beda College while the King met with a seminary rector and students.
Fr. Browne told the outlet that it seemed that King Charles “clearly wished to express a closeness that he believes already exists and to make that concrete and visible” through the day’s events, which were coordinated with the Royal Family and Royal Household in Rome.
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