Pope and first female Anglican leader pray together
Pope Leo and new Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally met for the first time at the Vatican in a symbolic meeting where long-separated leaders of the Catholic Church and the Church of England exchanged gifts and prayed together.
Mullally, the first woman to serve as spiritual leader of the world’s 85 million Anglicans, was welcomed into her official office in the Vatican’s ostentatious apostolic palace by Leo, the first US leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
The pair, who led feuding Christian sects in 1534, met privately before going to a 17th-century chapel where they recited prayers together.
In his official remarks to Leo, Mullally thanked the Pope for his new, forceful speaking style, which he used to harshly condemn war and despotism during his four-country tour of Africa, drawing the ire of US President Donald Trump.
“The world needed this message right now; thank you,” the archbishop said in a statement Monday. he said.
“It reminded us that despite our suffering, people long for life in all its fullness, and that countless people work every day toward this vision of the common good.”
Leo told Mullally that progress had been made in bringing the Catholic Church and the Church of England together, but complained that “new problems have arisen in recent years” without specifying these problems.
“We must not let these ongoing difficulties prevent us from using every possible opportunity to proclaim Christ together to the world,” the pope said.
Visiting Rome, Mullally was appointed the new Archbishop of Canterbury in March; This historic change was met with mixed reactions from the global Anglican communion, particularly from more conservative provinces in Africa and Asia.
Before the meeting, Mullally told ITV News she felt “very humbled, very privileged” to have met Leo.
“There is a long relationship and friendship between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church… we will continue to develop that relationship,” he said.
Church of England, Pope VII. Clement’s King Henry VIII. He left the Catholic Church in 1534 following Henry’s decision to reject his request for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
The two sects have been fiercely opposed to each other for centuries, but have moved closer together in recent years.
Although the Catholic Church does not ordain women and does not generally allow priests to marry, their teachings overlap on many important issues.
In his speech to the Pope, Mullally promised to remain with him in prayer.
“We receive gifts from each other that we could not obtain alone: depth in prayer, courage in witness, endurance of suffering, and faithfulness in service,” he said.
King Henry III, supreme governor of the Church of England. Charles made an official visit to the Vatican in October 2025.
She and Leo, VIII. They prayed together in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel in the first such joint prayer involving a pope and British monarch since Henry’s reign.
