King Charles III and Queen Camilla will pay a state visit to the Vatican next month to meet Pope Leo XIV for the first time, as announced by Buckingham Palace.
This trip, scheduled for late October, comes approximately six months after the royal couple visited Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, just before his death in April.
During their visit in October, they will join Pope Leo in celebrating the current jubilee year, a grand event that occurs every 25 years, as mentioned in the palace’s statement.
The visit will also highlight the cooperative efforts of the Church of England and the Catholic Church, reflecting the jubilee year’s motif of ‘pilgrims of hope’.
Back in April, King Charles III had a brief encounter with Pope Francis in Rome.
Despite initially postponing the meeting due to Pope Francis’s declining health, they managed to meet and share their shared interest in environmental protection.
After Pope Francis passed away on 21 April, having led the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics for 12 years, the conclave of cardinals elected Pope Leo in May. Pope Leo, 70, who has a history of missionary work in Peru, becomes the first American to hold the position.
The royal couple’s intended trip to Italy in April, planned for four days, was put in jeopardy when King Charles underwent observation in the hospital due to temporary side effects from his ongoing cancer treatment, disclosed last year.
King Charles, who has visited the Vatican five times as Prince of Wales and met three popes, leads the Church of England, the global mother church of Anglicanism. This Church was established in the 16th century by Henry VIII, following his disagreement with the Vatican over his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
While the historical controversy between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church was significant, today, the relationship between both is characterized by amity and collaboration.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/27/king-charles-to-visit-vatican-and-meet-pope-leo-for-first-time
