King Charles in Rome: Why the Church of England and Catholic Church have a complicated ecumenical relationship

When King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive in the Sistine Chapel this week to pray alongside Pope Leo XIV, it won’t just be a royal photo-op — it will be the closest Britain has come to healing a five-century-old religious rift born of politics, power, and love. For the first time since Henry VIII’s Reformation in the 16th century, a British monarch will publicly pray with a Pope. The Vatican describes it as a gesture of “faith and fellowship.” Buckingham Palace calls it “a landmark in relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church.” It’s also a personal moment for Charles — the Supreme Governor of the Church of England — to symbolically undo, or at least soften, the schism his ancestor created when he split from Rome to secure a divorce. King Charles and Que