King Charles hopes to meet Pope in Rome next month

By CathNews New Zealand

March 21st, 2025

Pope Francis greets Britain's Prince Charles at the Vatican on October 13, 2019, the day of the canonisation of St John Henry Newman and four others. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

King Charles III and Queen Camilla have confirmed their plans to meet at the Vatican with Pope Francis in early April. Source: Catholic News Service.

On March 18, the British Embassy to the Holy See released Buckingham Palace’s itinerary for the British royals’ planned state trip – a formal visit coordinated with the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Pope Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since February 14 fighting double pneumonia and multiple infections. While the Vatican press office said on March 17 that the Pope can go without supplemental oxygen for brief periods, a source said his release from the hospital “is not imminent”.

Buckingham Palace originally announced the visit of the King and Queen to the Vatican and Italy on February 6, more than a week before Pope Francis was hospitalised.

The Reuters news agency reported on March 18 that “royal officials expressed their ‘hopes and prayers that Pope Francis’ health will enable the visit to go ahead’, sentiments that King Charles and Queen Camilla shared”.

The King and Queen are scheduled to have an audience with Pope Francis on April 8, the new announcement said.

“Their Majesties will also attend a service in the Sistine Chapel, focused on the theme of ‘care for creation’, reflecting Pope Francis’ and His Majesty’s long-standing commitment to nature.”

At the ecumenical prayer service, it said, members of the choir of the King’s Chapel Royal and the choir of St George’s Chapel from Windsor will sing with the Sistine Chapel Choir.

The visit of the King and Queen was planned purposefully to coincide with the Holy Year 2025, “a year of reconciliation, prayer and walking together as ‘Pilgrims of Hope,’ which is the Jubilee’s theme”, Buckingham Palace said.

The announcement said that King Charles, in his role as supreme governor of the Church of England, will also visit Rome’s Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, “with which English kings had a particular link until the Reformation” in the 16th century.

The basilica is a church “where reconciliation, ecumenism and relationships across the Christian faith are celebrated”, the Palace said.

FULL STORY

King Charles, Queen Camilla hope to meet pope at Vatican in April – OSV News (By Cindy Wooden/CNS)