The Catholic Message Board

The King will become the first British monarch to pray publicly with the Pope since the Reformation 500 years ago during a state visit to the Holy See next week. The King and Queen will meet the new pontiff Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace, his official residence, next Thursday during their trip to Vatican City.
In a highly significant moment in relations between the Catholic Church and Church of England, of which His Majesty is Supreme Governor, the King and Queen and the Pope will attend a special ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel celebrating the ongoing work towards unity and cooperation among different Christian churches.
The decision for the King and Pope to pray together during the service will be the first time a monarch and the pontiff have joined together in this type of moment of reflection in the 500 years since the Reformation when, in 1534, King Henry VIII declared himself as head of the Church of England and broke from the papal authority of the Rome Catholic Church.
In another historic step, the King will be made "Royal Confrater" of the Abbey of St Paul's Outside the Walls. The abbot of the community and the archpriest of the basilica wished to confer the title and received the Pope's approval to do so. To mark the occasion a special seat has been made decorated with the King's coat of arms.

An amazing fruit of Vatican II ! I've always thought Jesus must be so pained by the division in the Church.

What does this have to do with Vatican II, one wonders.

Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Sun Oct 19, 2025 10:15 pm What does this have to do with Vatican II, one wonders.

UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO

1. The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided.(1) Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.

https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_cou ... io_en.html

You wouldn't have seen such meetings and honours swapped between Catholic and Anglican back in the day.

One can rightly ask whether such symbolic gestures actually further the cause of reunion.

There are rumors that King Charles may be considering conversion. That is an individual act. I don't think that would necessarily imply the CofE would come with him. Bringing up V2 in this context seems...random.

There are also rumors that he has secretly converted to Islam

peregrinator wrote: ↑Mon Oct 20, 2025 3:03 pm One can rightly ask whether such symbolic gestures actually further the cause of reunion.

If they did, then surely after 60 years of such gestures, we would be further along in the process of reunion than we are. I am increasingly inclined to the view of Pope Pius XI, who said, when the first moves towards ecumenism began in the 1930s, that the only path forward towards reunion will be conversion and returning to the Catholic Church. The Pope didn't say it, but I think conversion can only happen on an individual basis, not a corporate one. No denomination is going to collectively decide to convenrt, only individual members will do that, though things like the Anglican Ordinariate can expediate that process.

This meeting is definitely not a personal one for the King and Queen, but in the interest of ecumenism.

The King, who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England will participate in an ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel that will focus on the themes of Christian unity and care for creation — long an interest of the King, and also a concern of recent popes.

The service will be jointly led by Pope Leo XIV and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and will also feature the children of the choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal and the choir of St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, accompanied by the Sistine Chapel choir.

https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/news ... -timeline/

If they did, then surely after 60 years of such gestures, we would be further along in the process of reunion than we are

I've heard the rule of thumb that change can take a century to manifest in the Church but even so in the 60 years since I was a child, it's been quite a dramatic shift in unity between Christians. A lot of Christian denominations openly adopt the basic Catholic platform without any of the bitterness of the last 500 years since the Reformation.

zeno wrote: ↑Mon Oct 20, 2025 3:35 pm There are rumors that King Charles may be considering conversion. That is an individual act. I don't think that would necessarily imply the CofE would come with him. Bringing up V2 in this context seems...random.

As I recall, imperfectly, such a conversion would require abdication.

BTW, the ability of the Church to absorb some number of the more peculiar Anglicans seems questionable. I have an image of such arriving with lists of how the Church must change...this week.

I agree that he'd have to abdicate.

Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 11:13 am I agree that he'd have to abdicate.

He has advocated disestablishment of the Church of England for decades, and given that only 14% are members, I would bet dollars to donuts that this is the overwhelming majority view. The first party leader with the courage to propose such a dramatic change would no doubt sweep to power in a massive majority.

Were that the case, I would look to seeing disestablishment in each party's platform forthwith. Perhaps with another plank making Islam its replacement.

Highlander wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 4:20 pm Were that the case, I would look to seeing disestablishment in each party's platform forthwith. Perhaps with another plank making Islam its replacement.

No one will dare to propose disestablishment, even though the Church of England ceased being the majority religion over a century ago, and the churches are empty. Inertia and tradition are simply too powerful. Bishops in the Church of England are still peers in the House of Lords, indeed, the mere fact that the House of Lords still exists is even more inexplicable than the fact that the C of E still exists.

I get Lords ... a nice tradition that means little in governance. Commons I find a bit confusing. The consequences of sweeping an entire government out in one fell swoop may have been the reason for the Founders to create a mechanism where change is more gradual. Commons seems to be akin to Athenian democracy with its extreme rudder changes.