Pope Leo XIV has accepted the honorary title of Papal Confrater from the College of St George, linked to the chapel of the same name in Windsor Castle, in a new gesture of rapprochement between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. The recognition corresponds to the title of Royal Confrater that King Charles III received in October 2025 from the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St Paul Outside the Walls, in Rome.
The British Royal Household announced on Friday, October 23, the Pontiff’s acceptance of the title, highlighting that it is the first time in approximately five hundred years that a Pope and a British monarch have received reciprocal religious distinctions of this nature.
A recognition linked to the 2025 State Visit
The exchange originates from the State Visit that Charles III and Queen Camilla made to the Vatican on October 23, 2025. During that day, the monarch was welcomed as Royal Confrater of the Abbey of St Paul Outside the Walls, with the Pontiff’s approval.
Subsequently, the Dean and Canons of Windsor, with the King’s support and the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, invited Leo XIV to receive the corresponding honorary title from the College and Chapel of St George.
The Pope has now accepted the invitation, thereby formalizing the reciprocal recognition between both institutions.
The British Royal Household presents the gesture as an expression of ecumenical friendship and Christian fraternity, as well as a recognition of the historical relations between Windsor and the Holy See.
A tradition predating the Protestant Reformation
Before Henry VIII’s break with Rome in the sixteenth century, English monarchs maintained a historical connection with the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four papal basilicas in Rome.
The English Reformation interrupted that relationship and gave rise to the institutional separation between the Church of England and the Catholic Church.
Five centuries later, the exchange of titles symbolically restores that bond, although the differences that caused and consolidated the separation remain present. Among them are fundamental issues such as papal authority, the priesthood, the sacraments, and the ordination of women, which is accepted by the Anglican Communion and rejected by the Catholic Church.
Leo XIV himself has acknowledged that relations between the two confessions are facing new difficulties. In his message to Sarah Mullally on the occasion of her installation as “Archbishop” of Canterbury, the Pontiff stressed the need to continue ecumenical dialogue “in truth and in love,” without ignoring doctrinal disagreements.
Two commemorative stalls in Rome and Windsor
As a material expression of the exchange, two special stalls have been commissioned for the respective churches.
The one intended for Charles III is already installed beside the monastic choir stalls of St Paul Outside the Walls. The one corresponding to Leo XIV will be presented shortly in the Chapel of St George at Windsor Castle.
The Royal Household has also announced that this autumn a mosaic icon of Christ from Cefalù, gifted by the Pontiff to the British monarch during his 2025 State Visit, will be installed in the chapel.
The appointment has been favorably received by the Archbishop of Westminster, Richard Moth, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, who has presented it as a sign of hope for ecumenical relations between Catholics and Anglicans.
The initiative adds to the gestures of rapprochement between Rome and Canterbury, although it does not represent any concrete progress on the doctrinal issues that keep the two confessions apart. The new titles and stalls express an institutional cordiality that contrasts with the distance that still exists on essential matters of faith and the constitution of the Church.
Five centuries after the Anglican schism, Rome and Windsor are once again exchanging religious honors. The unity of faith, however, remains a far more complex matter than the granting of two honorary titles.