Archbishop of Canterbury joins Pope Leo for ‘moment of prayer’ during historic Vatican visit
The Archbishop of Canterbury made a historic visit to the Vatican on Monday, joined by Pope Leo XIV; this visit marked her first foreign involvement since becoming the first female leader of the Church of England and spiritual leader of millions of Anglicans worldwide.
Dame Sarah Mullally, whose appointment caused divisions within the already fractured Anglican Communion, arrived early for a meeting with Pope Leo in his private library.
The couple was planned to go to the Urban VIII Chapel inside the Apostolic Palace for what the Vatican described as a “moment of prayer.”
The audiences form part of his four-day pilgrimage to Rome, during which he visits major papal basilicas, prays at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and meets with senior Vatican officials.
Lambeth Palace stated that the visit was aimed at “strengthening Anglican-Roman Catholic relations through prayer, personal encounter and formal theological dialogue”.
He added that the visit “aims to deepen the bonds of unity, confirm the common witness and promote ongoing cooperation at both global and local levels.”
Anglican Church, King Henry VIII. She left Rome in 1534 after Henry requested an annulment of the marriage. Despite official theological debates that began in the 1960s, significant differences remain, particularly regarding the Church of England’s decision to ordain women.
The Roman Catholic Church continues its tradition of reserving the priesthood exclusively for men. The first female Anglican priests were appointed in 1994, followed by the appointment of the first female bishop in 2015, bringing to an end Mullally’s groundbreaking role as the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
But his appointment left the Anglican Communion, which has 100 million members in 165 countries, deeply divided on issues such as the role of women and the treatment of LGBTQ+ people. Many in Britain and other Western countries hailed his appointment as a historic breaking of the stained glass ceiling.
But the congregation’s largest and fastest-growing churches in Africa belong to a conservative group called the Global Anglican Future Conference, or Gafcon, which has harshly criticized his appointment and threatened a final schism. In the US, the conservative Anglican Church in North America formed, breaking away from the more liberal US and Canadian Episcopal churches, and signed the Gafcon statement opposing Mullally’s appointment.
Leo congratulates Mullally on appointment
Leo and Mullally have already exchanged greetings; Leo congratulated him on his installation last month but acknowledged he took over at a “challenging” time and that differences still divide the Anglican and Catholic churches.
“We also know that the ecumenical journey is not always smooth,” Leo wrote. “Despite much progress, our predecessors, Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby, openly acknowledged that new circumstances have raised new disagreements among us,” Leo wrote.
He nevertheless promised to continue the dialogue, and in October Leo signed a letter to King George III. He invited Charles and Queen Camilla to the Vatican, where they prayed in the Sistine Chapel. Charles is the titular head of the Church of England.
This event on October 25 was the first time since the Reformation that leaders of two Christian churches prayed together.
This year marks the 1966 meeting between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI.
After the American-born pope was harshly criticized by President Donald Trump for his calls for peace in Iran, Mullally expressed solidarity with Leo’s message of peace.
