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King Charles III connected Thursday became the archetypal caput of the Church of England to commune publically with a pope since the schism with Rome 500 years ago, successful a work led by Leo XIV.
The 76-year-old monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, joined the US-born pope successful the Sistine Chapel for a 30-minute work mixing Catholic and Anglican traditions.
The item of the royals’ authorities sojourn to the Holy See, the ceremonial nether Michelangelo’s spectacular ceiling frescoes marked a important rapprochement betwixt the 2 churches.
It was the archetypal clip a reigning English oregon British monarch has prayed publically with a pope since king Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church successful 1534.
Triggered by the past pope’s refusal to annul Henry’s matrimony truthful helium could wed different woman, the schism made the monarch caput of the abstracted Church of England.
Charles, who is officially ultimate politician of the Anglican parent church, earlier had his archetypal gathering with Pope Leo, who took implicit arsenic caput of the world’s 1.4 cardinal Catholics successful May pursuing the decease of Pope Francis.
He and Camilla were greeted astatine the Apostolic Palace by a ceremonial defender of honour by the Swiss Guard, the pope’s colourful information detail, earlier a backstage gathering with Leo successful the papal library.
The pope led the Sistine Chapel work with the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, presently the elder cleric of the Church of England, portion Charles and Camilla sat adjacent to them.
Attended by Catholic and Anglican clerics, politicians and diplomats, the work centred connected conservation and protecting the environment, a origin agelong championed by Charles.
The Sistine Chapel choir was joined by that from Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, 1 of the king’s residences.
The sojourn comes astatine a delicate clip for Charles pursuing caller revelations astir his member Prince Andrew, who is mired successful a ungraded surrounding precocious US enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew announced connected Friday helium would relinquish his rubric arsenic Duke of York, reportedly nether unit from Charles. He had already stepped backmost from royal duties successful 2019.
Schism
William Gibson, prof of theology astatine Oxford Brookes university, said the Vatican work was a “historic event” successful a dilatory resumption of ties.
“From 1536 to 1914 determination were nary ceremonial diplomatic relations betwixt the United Kingdom and the Holy See,” helium told AFP, noting that London lone opened an embassy astatine the Vatican successful 1982.
In 1961, the Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s mother, became the archetypal British monarch to sojourn the Holy See since the split.
The instrumentality was changed successful 2013 truthful that marrying a Catholic would nary longer disqualify idiosyncratic from becoming monarch — though they inactive person to beryllium a Protestant themselves.
The rapprochement is important due to the fact that “Anglicanism was calved successful absorption to the Catholic Church, and truthful successful opposition,” said Hyacinthe Destivelle, a French clergyman and subordinate of the Vatican’s dicastery (department) for promoting Christian unity.
This is nary longer the case, contempt “theological differences successful caller decades”, helium told AFP.
Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England — the parent religion of the world’s 85-million-strong Anglican assemblage — ordains women and allows priests to marry.
Sarah Mullally was precocious named the archetypal pistillate Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church’s apical cleric, though she has yet to officially instrumentality up her station and truthful was not contiguous Thursday.
Her information has been powerfully criticised by blimpish Anglicans.
Royal Confrater
Charles and Camilla are to...
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