Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media/Reuters via CNN Newsource

ROME -- King Charles III became the first British monarch to pray publicly with a pope in 500 years during his state visit to the Vatican on Thursday, after a bruising week back home with the continued fallout over the Prince Andrew scandal .

Beneath the Sistine Chapel ’s magnificent vaulted ceiling, painted by Michelangelo, Charles and Pope Leo XIV prayed together in a special ecumenical service – a first since at least the Reformation.

The service focused on care of creation, a long-standing concern of the King’s and a topic which Pope Leo has highlighted early in his pontificate. It was presided over by Leo and the Church of England’s Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.

A joint choir from St. George’s Chapel and t

See Full Page