King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to meet Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, in a visit to Vatican City next month.
The royal couple will travel to the city-state for a two-day visit in October in their only autumnal overseas engagement, Buckingham Palace sources have said.
This October engagement will see the British sovereign meet the global head of the Catholic Church for the first time since he was elected through a papal conclave earlier this year.
Pope Leo XIV assumed the papacy in May following the death of Pope Francis on 21 April at the age of 88.
King Charles and Queen Camilla will meet Pope Leo XIV during a visit to the Vatican next month
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The new pontiff, whose birth name is Robert Prevost, inherited the Thone of Saint Peter shortly after the British royals had originally planned to visit Vatican City.
Their initial four-day Italian itinerary in April had included a stop at the Holy See, but Pope Francis’s deteriorating health necessitated changes to the schedule.
October’s visit will see the King and Queen perform the diplomatic duties that were planned for the originally planned visit, The Sun reported.
GB News has approached Buckingham Palace for further information.
The visit will fulfil the diplomatic duties to the Vatican that were curtailed due to Pope Francis’s ill health during the State Visit to Italy in April
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While Charles and Camilla could not enjoy a full visit to the Vatican in April, they did manage a brief private meeting with Pope Francis on their wedding anniversary.
Their meeting came just days before the ailing pontiff’s death.
During the audience, Pope Francis is believed to have blessed the marriage of the King and Queen in a hugely significant gesture.
The encounter, which lasted twenty minutes and took place behind closed doors, occurred despite the Catholic Church’s position on remarriage after divorce.
The King and Queen met with Pope Francis during their visit earlier this year, just days before his death
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Under Catholic doctrine, which does not recognise second marriages whilst former spouses remain living, the King and Queen’s marriage would not be recognised as Andrew Parker Bowles, Camilla’s ex-husband, still lives.
King Charles and Pope Francis also prayed together, which would potentially be shared prayer between a British monarch, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. and a pontiff since Henry VIII’s break with the church in 1534.
Prince William would later represent the King and Royal Family at the funeral the former pontiff later that month.
In May, Prince Edward took over the role as representative during Pope Leo’s Inauguration Mass.
Pope Leo issued his condolences to the Royal Family during the funeral of the Duchess of Kent last week
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Last week, Pope Leo XIV issued a touching message to the Royal Family during the funeral of the Duchess of Kent.
Katherine, Duchess of Kent, became the first senior member of the Royal Family to publicly convert to Catholicism since the Act of Settlement, which bars Catholics from the line of succession.
She converted in 1994 with Queen Elizabeth II’s permission, who saw it as a personal matter of faith.
The Pope said in his message: “I was saddened to learn of the death of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent, and I send heartfelt condolences, together with the assurance of my prayerful closeness, to Your Majesty, the Members of the Royal Family, and especially to her husband, The Duke of Kent, and their children and grandchildren at this time of sorrow.”