Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III Exchange Religious Titles for First Time in 500 Years: Pope Becomes Papal Confrater at Windsor
Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III of England have bestowed honorary religious titles on each other, the first time this has happened in 500 years, according to reporting by the National Catholic Register on October 26 citing the official website of the British Royal Family. In a text published on October 23, the Dean and Canons of Windsor announced, with the gracious approval of the King, that Pope Leo XIV has become Papal Confrater of the College of St. George at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. A year earlier, during his historic state visit to the Holy See, King Charles III was received as a royal confrater of the papal basilica and abbey of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, and the Pope was at that time already invited to become a papal confrater of St. George's at Windsor.
The royal text said that, mindful of the value of Christian unity in an increasingly polarised and turbulent world, the King and the Pope have joined together in Christian brotherhood and, for the first time in half a millennium, are receiving religious titles which underscore what unites rather than what separates the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. It called the gesture a visible sign of spiritual fellowship, ecumenical friendship and Christian fraternity, and noted the centuries-old relationship between the College and Chapel of St. George, Windsor, and the Holy See, as well as progress in relations between the Catholic Church, the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.
Specially commissioned chairs mark the confraternity: the King's chair already sits at St. Paul Outside the Walls, while a corresponding chair for the Pope will be unveiled in due course at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, alongside a mosaic icon of Christ of Cefalu gifted by the Pope to the King during the state visit. On October 23, 2025, Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III prayed together in the Sistine Chapel, the first time a pope and a British monarch prayed together during a state visit to the Vatican. During that visit the King conferred on the Pope the title of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, while the Pope bestowed on the King the honor of Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Pius IX and on Queen Camilla the distinction of Dame Grand Cross of the same order.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：教宗良十四世当选后在圣伯多禄大殿阳台露面（2025年5月8日）。照片：Edgar Beltrán，The Pillar，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Pope Leo XIV on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after his election, May 8, 2025. Photo: Edgar Beltrán, The Pillar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
