Here are the photos King Charles was desperate to have: the head of the Church of England shaking hands with the pope. Pope Bob (Leo) gave Charles his big photo-op today. Not only did they do a photocall and handshake, it was apparently important to Charles that they were seen praying together. For some reason, I thought this part of the photo-op would be in St. Peter’s Basilica, and there would be more flummery and pomp (Charles loves pomp). Instead, it looks like the joint-prayer was conducted in just a regular room. Pope Bob was like “take it or leave it, you divorced adulterer.”

Nearly five centuries after King Henry VIII of England broke with the Catholic Church so he could divorce and marry again (and again and again), another divorced and remarried English king prayed with the pope on Thursday in an ecumenical service inside the Sistine Chapel. The service, conducted in the same chamber where Pope Leo XIV was recently selected as head of the Roman Catholic Church, was the first time in modern history that a pontiff and a British monarch, the nominal head of the Church of England, have publicly prayed together.

The service was a sign of markedly improved relations between the Anglican and Catholic denominations as well as the eagerness of King Charles III to be viewed as an ecumenical leader. Queen Elizabeth II, the king’s mother, met with several popes over her seven-decade reign, but never publicly prayed with any of them. King Charles and Queen Camilla met with Pope Francis in April, shortly before Francis’s death, but there was no prayer service.

The king and queen participated in the service as part of a state visit to the Vatican that had been planned before Francis’s death to coincide with the Jubilee, a year of penance and forgiveness that takes place every quarter century.

In a second ecumenical service on Thursday, the king was expected to take up the honorary title of “Royal Confrater,” which recognizes the historical ties between the monarchy and the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. The Vatican also designed a chair for the king and his descendants decorated with the royal coat of arms and bearing an inscription of the Latin phrase “Ut unum sint” — “That they may be one” — recognizing a shared Christian faith.

Ordinarily, the archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England, would have accompanied the king in a visit to Rome. But the Most Rev. Justin Welby resigned from the post last November after a report said he failed to pursue a proper investigation into claims of widespread clerical abuse of boys and young men. This month, the Right Rev. Sarah Mullally was named the first woman to occupy the role, but she is not expected to be installed officially until early next year.

[From The NY Times]

I included that last part of the Times’ reporting because it was news to me that the new Archbishop of Canterbury is a lady. I missed that completely! But I knew that Welby resigned from the role in a storm of controversy. After Pope Francis died this year, historians noted that it had been centuries since the positions of pope and Archbishop of Canterbury were both vacant at the same time. (I love that kind of historical trivia.)

Anyway, as for Charles and Camilla’s big Pope Bob meeting… all of it is being overshadowed by what’s happening back in the UK, as there are growing calls for more investigations into Prince Andrew and the Crown Estates. Charles really thought his half-measure (Andrew’s demotion) was going to mollify the British public.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.