King Charles III and Queen Camilla will pay a state visit to the Vatican next month for their first meeting with Pope Leo XIV, Buckingham Palace announced on Saturday.
“Their Majesties The King and Queen will undertake a State Visit to the Holy See in late October 2025,” the palace said in a statement. The visit comes six months after the royal couple met Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, shortly before his death in April.
Francis, who led the Catholic Church for 12 years, died on April 21. Pope Leo XIV, 70, a former missionary in Peru and the first American pope, was elected by cardinals on May 8.
During their stay, Charles and Camilla will join Leo in celebrations marking the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, observed every 25 years. According to the palace, the visit will also highlight ecumenical efforts between the Church of England and the Catholic Church under the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”
As head of the Church of England, Charles represents the Anglican Communion, which broke with Rome under King Henry VIII in the 16th century. While the split triggered centuries of conflict, relations between Anglicans and Catholics have since grown more cooperative.
Charles, 76, last met Pope Francis in April in Rome, despite initially postponing the meeting due to the pontiff’s health. His four-day trip to Italy had itself been uncertain following his hospitalisation in March for side effects from cancer treatment.
The monarch has previously visited the Vatican five times as Prince of Wales, meeting John Paul II in Britain in 1982, attending his funeral in 2005, and later being received by Benedict XVI in 2009, and by Francis in 2017 and 2019.
