King Charles joins Pope Leo in historic Sistine Chapel prayer

Vatican visit sees 'joining of hands' of two churches with joint worship

King Charles and Queen Camilla during an ecumenical prayer led by Pope Leo XIV in the Sistine Chapel. AFP

Pope Leo with King Charles and Queen Camilla during their visit to Vatican City. EPA

Queen Camilla in the Pauline Chapel. Getty Images

Pope Leo with King Charles and Queen Camilla at the Vatican. Reuters

King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive at Rome's Ciampino Airport. AFP

The monarch and his wife are on a state visit to the Holy See. PA

Monsignor Javier Gonzalez, the head of the Vatican's Protocol Office, greets King Charles. Getty Images

The UK's ambassador to the Holy See, Christopher Trott, second left, greets the royal couple. Getty Images

The royal couple met Pope Leo XIV for the first time since he was elected in May. Reuters

Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza welcomes King Charles in the courtyard of San Damaso. Reuters

King Charles and Queen Camilla's visit coincides with the papal jubilee celebrations. AFP

Officials welcome the monarch. Reuters

Royal household staff and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, right, await the arrival of the royal couple. PA

The national anthems are played. AP

Britain's King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV united in groundbreaking prayers in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel during the king’s visit to the Holy See on Thursday.

The service was the first time the heads of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England have prayed together in nearly 500 years since the split from Rome.

This “joining of hands” included an introduction by Pope Leo and the Archbishop of York, as well as a reading from the Letter to the Romans by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III during a state visit to the Vatican. EPA

The King and his consort sat together a few metres from Pope Leo at the front of the congregation which featured ranks of cardinals.

During the short service, Pope Leo led the symbolic moment with the words: “Let us pray.” The 30-minute service mixed contributions from the Catholic and Anglican traditions.

It is the King and Queen Camilla's first state visit to the Holy See since Pope Leo's election in May. Leo is expected to travel to Turkey and Lebanon in November in his first foreign visit as pontiff.

Two royal British choirs – including children from the Chapel Royal – performed alongside the Sistine Chapel Choir. They sang the 16th century English anthem If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis and Psalms.

Since Henry VIII broke with Rome to establish the Church of England in the 16th century, the two faiths were the cornerstone of mutual distrust between the English state and the papacy.

The ecumenical movement has seen both seek closer ties as part of a drive towards worldwide Christian unity that began in the 20th century.

Gifts and titles

King Charles and Queen Camilla met Pope Leo in the morning, before the service in the library, after which they exchanged gifts.

The King brought a large silver photograph and icon of St Edward the Confessor. The Pope presented a scale mosaic made in the Vatican that replicates the Sicilian mosaic of Christ Pantocrator at the Norman Cathedral of Cefalu.

Pope Leo XIV exchanges gifts with King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Apostolic Palace. Getty

After the service, King Charles and Pope Leo moved to the Sala Regia, a state hall, where they discussed efforts to support sustainability and nature.

They met representatives from climate organisations and private sector leaders who have been working in the King’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, and exchange trees to be planted.

King Charles was recognised as a spiritual fellow of the Roman Catholic Church, known as a Royal Confrater of the Abbey of St Paul’s in a ceremony at the abbey. A seat displaying the royal coat of arms was created for the ceremony and as a gift to the king.

King Charles sits on a chair bearing his coat of arms that was made for him by Vatican craftsmen as he became a Royal Confrater of the Abbey of St Paul. Reuters.

In return, Pope Leo became a Papal Confrater of St George's Chapel, Windsor.

King Charles received a papal knighthood and made Pope Leo a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

Queen Camilla is meeting Catholic Sisters from the International Union of Superiors General, to hear about their work, often in war zones and hostile environments.