On October 22 and 23, the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, Charles III and Camilla, will make a state visit to the Holy See to meet with Leo XIV on the occasion of the Jubilee Year 2025. The visit takes place a few months after the death of Francis and the election of Leo XIV, with whom Charles III will meet for the first time. In April, the monarch was already in Rome, where he met privately with Pope Francis days before his death.
A ceremony for the care of nature
The central day of the visit will take place on October 23. At 11 a.m., the royals will be received in audience at the Apostolic Palace. Afterward, the Pope and the monarch will pray together in the Sistine Chapel in a ceremony centered on the care of creation —a gesture that seeks to underscore the common commitment to the environmental agenda—. The event will include the presence of Vatican choirs and those of the British royalty, such as the Chapel Royal and St. George’s Chapel at Windsor, which will sing along with the Sistine Chapel choir.
As explained by Monsignor Flavio Pace, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, King Charles III himself requested that the visit have a strong spiritual dimension. The shared prayer will also be an opportunity to strengthen the environmental cause, as noted by Sister Alessandra Smerilli, secretary of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development: “This meeting will underscore the importance of everyone’s collaboration against climate change”.
An ecumenical act at St. Paul’s Outside the Walls
In the afternoon, the monarchs will go to the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls —traditionally linked to the English monarchy before the schism—. There, the monarch will receive the title of “Royal confrater”, in an act of spiritual fraternity that will include the permanent installation of a seat with the coat of arms of the British Royal House and the motto Ut unum sint (that they all may be one), an evocation of St. John Paul II’s encyclical on ecumenism.
As explained by Monsignor Flavio Pace, the visit seeks “to deepen the path of dialogue with the Anglican Church”, although he admitted that “there are still many steps to take”, —and perhaps even more, after the recent split between the Church of England and Africa—.
Everything with an environmental focus
The agenda also includes meetings with businesspeople and associations dedicated to sustainability, a visit by Queen Camilla to the Pauline Chapel, and meetings with nuns and communities committed to social projects. All of this, framed in the rhetoric of “care for creation” and international collaboration.
But beyond diplomacy and gestures, the visit leaves a question: is it a real advance toward Christian unity or a new symbolic concession that blurs doctrinal differences in the name of political correctness and environmental consensus?