Vatican City: King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to make a State visit to the Vatican on October 23, 2025, where they will be received by Pope Leo XIV in what both the Holy See and Buckingham Palace have described as a “historic moment” in relations between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. The occasion will center on two interlinked themes deeply close to both leaders’ hearts Christian unity and environmental stewardship.
According to the official itinerary, the visit will begin at noon with an ecumenical prayer service for the care of creation in the Sistine Chapel, presided over by Pope Leo XIV. The service will highlight a shared theological vision of the Earth as a common home entrusted to human care, aligning with the Jubilee Year’s theme, Pilgrims of Hope. Following the prayer, the Pontiff and the British Monarch will participate in a meeting in the Sala Regia with global environmental leaders, Church representatives, and members of the United Nations, focusing on sustainable development and climate action.
Later in the afternoon, at 2:45 p.m., King Charles and Queen Camilla will travel to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where the King will receive the rare distinction of Royal Confrater of Saint Paul, a title symbolizing the long-standing bond between the British Crown and the Benedictine Abbey adjoining the Basilica. The recognition will be formally conferred by Cardinal James Michael Harvey and Abbot Donato Ogliari, with papal approval.
At a Vatican press briefing on October 17, Archbishop Flavio Pace, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Sister Alessandra Smerilli, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presented the visit as “a profound gesture of reconciliation and cooperation.”
The event, originally planned for April, coincides with the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical on environmental care. It also highlights King Charles’s enduring commitment to ecological and interfaith causes a hallmark of his public life even before his ascension to the throne. The joint liturgy on creation care, co-led by Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, symbolizes the deepening spiritual dialogue between the two Churches.
A deeply symbolic liturgical element will accompany the event a hymn by Saint Ambrose of Milan, sung in English translation by Saint John Henry Newman, the 19th-century theologian whose conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism remains a cornerstone of ecumenical understanding.
Newman, canonised in 2019 at a ceremony attended by then-Prince Charles, will soon be declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV on November 1, during a major Vatican ceremony attended by senior Anglican representatives. The musical program for the liturgy will unite the Sistine Chapel Choir with choristers from St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace, forming a harmony that symbolically echoes the spirit of Christian unity.
During the ceremony at Saint Paul Outside the Walls, a specially crafted chair featuring King Charles’s coat of arms and the Latin phrase Ut unum sint (“That they may be one” – John 17:21) will be used. The chair will remain permanently in the Basilica’s apse as a sign of continuity, available for use by the King and future British monarchs during future visits a symbolic gesture of enduring friendship between the Holy See and the British Crown.
“This is a moment of honour and spiritual communion,” said Archbishop Pace, noting that the conferral of the Royal Confrater title reflects “the convergence of history, faith, and shared responsibility.”
Following the prayer service, Pope Leo and King Charles will join a private roundtable with Church and environmental leaders, including representatives from the Laudato Si’ Movement and global sustainability experts.
Sister Smerilli praised both leaders for championing ecological consciousness. “Pope Leo and King Charles share a common moral vision that the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor are one and the same,” she said. She highlighted recent Vatican initiatives, including the new “Mass for the Protection of Creation” celebrated on July 9, and the upcoming inauguration of the Borgo Laudato Si’, an environmental education center in Assisi set for September 2025.
King Charles’s efforts to mobilize private-sector action on climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture were also acknowledged as examples of faith-driven leadership in the modern age.
Both Vatican officials underscored the long-term significance of the royal visit. “It is not just ceremonial it is prophetic,” said Archbishop Pace. “This meeting celebrates how far Anglican-Catholic relations have come and reaffirms our shared hope for unity.”
Sister Smerilli added, “At a time when the planet and humanity are deeply fractured, this encounter stands as a beacon of faith, fraternity, and collective responsibility. It reminds us that unity with one another and harmony with creation are inseparable.”
As October 23 approaches, anticipation grows for what many see as a landmark moment in Church history, uniting the moral voice of the papacy with the symbolic leadership of the British Crown in a joint mission for reconciliation and the preservation of the planet.