Historic Prayer

From the BBC Live:

“King Charles becomes first head of Church of England to pray publicly with Pope”

The symbolism of a Pope and King praying together nearly 500 years after the Church of England’s split from Rome is striking.

So too is the gesture of recognising the role Anglo-Saxon rulers played in the upkeep of the beautiful Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls. But of course the relationship between the Church of which the King is supreme governor and the Vatican had already come a very long way since 1534. The two Churches work together on numerous global projects and issues. The late Pope Francis and former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby even travelled together to South Sudan to try to encourage peace.

As a prince, with a profound interest in faith, King Charles has visited Popes at the Vatican before. Pope Francis in return was known to have a great deal of respect for the late Queen Elizabeth. So while the images from the Vatican today will be historic, the groundwork for these moments has been laid over decades and indeed centuries of coming together.