King Charles Begins Landmark Vatican Visit

King Charles III and Queen Camilla began a landmark two-day state visit to the Vatican in which Charles will become the first British monarch in roughly 500 years to publicly pray with a pope — Pope Leo XIV — during an ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel. The visit opened with ceremonial welcomes in the San Damaso Courtyard and St Peter’s Square, including the Swiss Guard, national anthems and meetings with papal officials, and coincides with the Papal Jubilee. The joint service will be presided over by Pope Leo and the Church of England’s Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and will blend Catholic and Anglican traditions with combined choirs and an emphasis on care for creation. As part of further symbolic gestures of reconciliation, Charles will be made Royal Confrater at St Paul’s Outside the Walls, where a special chair will be reserved for him and his successors. The state visit — postponed earlier in the year because of Pope Francis’s health — is occurring amid domestic pressures on the monarchy, including fallout from the Prince Andrew scandal.