Friday Church News NotesOctober 31, 2025 -  
 (Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2025, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) –

 The following is excerpted from “King Charles III and Queen Camilla pray with Pope Leo in historic step for churches,” The Washington Times, Oct. 23, 2025: “Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla prayed Thursday with Pope Leo XIV in an historic visit to the Vatican to forge closer relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church, a welcome spiritual respite for the royals from the turmoil at home over the Epstein sex scandal. 

Charles, who is the titular head of the Church of England, and Camilla sat in golden thrones on the raised altar of the Sistine Chapel, in front of Michelangelo’s ‘Last Judgment,’ while Leo and the Anglican archbishop of York presided over an ecumenical service. The event marked the first time since the Reformation that the heads of the two Christian churches, divided for centuries over issues that now include the ordination of female priests, have prayed together. … Anglicans split from the Catholic Church in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment. 

While popes for decades have forged warm relations with the Church of England and the broader Anglican Communion on a path toward greater unity, the two churches remain divided. … Later Thursday, Charles was also to formally receive a new title and recognition at a pontifical basilica that has strong, traditional ties to the Church of England, St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. The title ‘Royal Confrater’ [colleague, comrade] is a sign of spiritual fellowship and was reciprocated by Charles: Leo was given the title of ‘Papal Confrater of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.’ 

At the basilica, Charles will be given a special chair decorated with his coat of arms, bearing the Latin exhortation ‘Ut Unum Sint’ (That they may be one), the mantra for Christian unity. The chair will remain in the basilica for Charles and his heirs to use, officials said.”