CHARLES will become the first monarch to pray in public with the Pope when he visits Vatican City next week.
The King will also receive a new title and a special chair making the State Visit in a celebration of ‘common ground between faiths’ and ‘gesture of hospitality’.
Charles and Camilla will have an audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace – five months after his election.
In a religious first, the head of Catholic Church and Church of England, will pray together during an ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel
The King and Queen’s trip to Vatican City during a State Visit to Italy was postponed in April due to Pope Francis’s ill health – although they did make time for a private audience.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman “It will mark a significant moment in relations between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.
“This will be the first State Visit since the Reformation where the Pope and Monarch will pray together in an Ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel and first time Monarch since the Reformation has attended a service in St Paul’s Outside the Walls, a Church with historical connection to the English Crown.”
The King, Queen and Pope will also attend a service in the Sistine Chapel focused on the theme of ‘Care for Creation’ based on King and Pope’s environmental campaigning.
Charles will receive two novel awards when he joined Camilla for a service at the Papal Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome.
A palace spokesman said: “His Majesty has agreed to the Pope’s suggestion that he become ‘Royal Confrata’ of the Abbey, this gift of confraternity is a recognition of spiritual fellowship.”
“In a further celebration of this new bond, the Basilica of Outside the Walls has created a special seat for his majesty which will remain in the Basilica as a perpetual mark of mutual respect between poel leo and king as head of state.
“The special chair is decorated with His Majesty’s coat of arms the King will use this chair in the service after which it remains in the basiclay for future use by His Majesty and heirs and successors.”
A spokesman for The Church of England says the symbolic offerings celebrate “common ground between faith’ and are a ‘gesture of hospitality’.
The King is continuing to have cancer treatment 18 months after his diagnosis but it is not expected to affect the two day trip next Wednesday and Thursday.
