King Charles becomes first head of the Church of England to pray with the Pope | BBC News

Hello and a very warm welcome to BBC News. I'm Mark Lowen. We are live on St Peter's Square at the Vatican where a moment of history has just been made involving King Charles and Queen Camilla who have been here at the Vatican meeting Pope Leo XIV and for the first time a British monarch prayed alongside a pope, a Catholic pope, for the first time in five centuries. The royal couple joined Pope Leo for a prayer service in the Sistine Chapel in a show of religious unity. It is the first time that the heads of the Catholic Church and the Church of England have joined in prayer since the Reformation 500 years ago. It comes at a difficult time for the royal family following new revelations about his brother Prince Andrew who last week relinquished his royal title. Let us just show you that moment. Pope Leo with the Archbishop of York there beside him and then King Charles and Queen Camilla in that prayer. The first prayer shared between a British monarch and a pope in five centuries. Let us bring in our religion editor Alim Maqbool who is live with us from London. Alim, your thoughts today on this historic moment for two wings of the Church between which there has been so much mistrust and tension for such a long time but then coming together today in this real moment of unity and reconciliation. Well, striking pictures, striking symbolism. We're seeing the praying together. We'll also see later in the day the beautiful basilica of St Paul's outside the walls that an honorary title will be conferred on the king as well because that basilica before the Reformation, before 1534, was looked after in part by Anglo-Saxon rulers, by English kings. Obviously, that hasn't happened since but this will be an honorary title. So extraordinary gestures but what I would say watching this is, you know, this is not about marking a sea change suddenly in the relationship between these two churches. Yes, there was animosity but we're talking about centuries ago. The groundwork for this has obviously been laid through the decades to a point where the churches are working together, where popes have met monarchs in the past, have talked about their respect for monarchs. We remember Pope Francis talking about his respect for the late queen and the warm relationship that actually the king had as Prince Charles over the years in meeting several popes in the past. So it is extraordinary symbolism and the groundwork for this moment has been laid for many decades and in some senses there are those who are looking at this thinking it would have been very fitting if this had happened as originally planned in a meeting, a prayer between the late Pope Francis and the king because these are two characters, heads of two churches, who were really all about reaching out. Pope Francis was about reaching out to other faiths, other denominations and of course we know that the king has had a very profound interest in interfaith harmony and of course when it was originally due to take place Pope Francis was very ill, the king still met him but it was in the final weeks of his life. But as I say, extraordinary symbolism in the pictures that we're seeing now. Annaline, as we started speaking we saw the first images that we had in there of King Charles and Queen Camilla meeting Pope Leo XIV in the Apostolic Palace before they then entered the Sistine Chapel. It is of course the first meeting also between the two heads of state, of course the Pope is the head of the state of the Vatican, the smallest independent state, so politics also at play here beyond the theological and religious significance and the two men discussing matters that are close to their heart. Yes, no question, I mean this is a state visit, yes the Vatican is the smallest state but one that punches many many times above its weight. There have been occasions in the past where the British government has been very keen to get the Vatican on board on some of its global projects, for example issues like combating sexual violence in conflict for example and so that was something where the British government had worked hard to get the Vatican on board because they recognised if the Vatican was on board, if they had the same interests, it was something that was extremely helpful on achieving some of the goals on the world stage. So certainly that is at the heart of this as well, a political meeting between heads of state, but of course with the backdrop of this religious symbolism and that there is a sense that the King has been keen for some time for a meeting like this. We know, as I say, that the Palace and the Vatican had been working on it in the days and months preceding Pope Leo's election as Pope, installation as Pope. He's already met Pope Leo, one member of the Royal Family in Prince Edward who attended the inaugural mass of Pope Leo instead of representing the King, but now they get this historic meeting together. Alim, thanks very much indeed for now. Let me just tell you what is happening here on St Peter's Square because we can see the Carabinieri, the Italian military police, at the ready. We think that King Charles's car is going to come out of here imminently carrying the King and Queen because they are then going to cross the city and go to the other hugely symbolic part of today. They will go to the papal basilica of St Paul outside the walls, which contains the tomb of St Paul. The English crown has for centuries been involved in upkeeping, going back to Saxon times. We understand that that is imminent now, the departure of King Charles and Queen Camilla to that church. At that church, the King will be conferred with the title of Royal Confrater. That is a sign of the fraternity and unity. Also, he will be given a seat, a special chair, which will bear his coat of arms and will be allowed to be used by him and his successors and heirs for centuries to come. That is another sign of symbolism and of unity between the two faiths. That will also be an important moment of this visit as both the Pope and the King are given these special titles by each other. Again, a striking gesture. Like I say, the two churches have long worked together. I know the Church of England bishops go backwards and forwards working on various ecumenical projects together, on various global issues together. You might remember in early 2023, Pope Francis, the late Pope Francis and the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, travelled together, for example, to South Sudan to try to encourage peace. For a long time, ecumenical projects and work has gone on between the two churches. But again, it will be a striking gesture in a stunning setting. St Paul's outside the walls, one of the major basilicas in Rome, just outside the walls of the ancient city. But as you rightly say, that was a basilica where Anglo-Saxon rulers were part of the upkeep, English kings and queens after that were part of the upkeep until the Reformation, when that stopped. So this is a recognition of that contribution that was made by English kings. And of course, an extraordinary, striking gesture. Indeed, Aleem. And the symbolism, the religious symbolism, a backdrop to all of this, but one can't help but mention also that another backdrop to this visit that I'm sure Buckingham Palace would prefer not to be so is the growing controversy and scandal over Prince Andrew and the growing controversy over his living arrangements on the Windsor estate and all the allegations of his association with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which even though Buckingham Palace says, of course, they are completely aware of and they know that we are going to be talking about, they will be hoping is not overshadowing this visit. Yes, I mean, certainly, it won't be overshadowing the visit necessarily from the Vatican point of view, back at home, all eyes are on the royal family at the moment for that reason. I think it's unlikely that Pope Leo, for example, will be drawn on the issue. He's very careful in what he says we've seen since he was inaugurated as Pope in May. He's been very cautious in what he says about political events around the world. He's really focused on working behind the scenes as a bridge builder. I'm going to just interrupt you apologies, because apologies, Alim, because we can just see the car and the convoy of the King and Queen just coming around the colonnades of St. Peter's Square and on to Via della Congegliazione, which leads up to the Vatican. You can see there the Italian Carabinieri, the military police at the front of that convoy. And then there is the King and Queen. There are the King and Queen in their car with the royal standard above being followed by police vehicles as they make their way down Via della Congegliazione, the road that effectively links Italy to the Vatican, followed by the official cars at the end of their convoy. And they will make their way across to the papal basilica and abbey of St. Paul's outside the walls, which as Alim, our religion editor, was just explaining there, there will be also more religious symbolism there as King Charles is given the title Royal Confrata. And there you can see the chapel from the Sistine Chapel. That was the moment of real unity that we have seen within the last hour, the moment where the King and the Pope prayed together, the first British monarch and the Pope to lead prayers together in five centuries.