King Charles hopes to meet with the Pope on State visit to Vatican City next month despite his illness
THE King still plans to meet the Pope next month during a State visit to Vatican City and Italy – despite his hospital stay.
Pope Francis, 88, has been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital with pneumonia for more than a month but is no longer said to be in a critical condition.
It is understood the King, 76, wrote to the Pope when he was taken ill last month.
Charles and Camilla will embark on State Visits to the Vatican City and Italy next month between Monday April 7 and Thursday April 10.
The trip coincides with the royal couple’s 20th wedding anniversary.
A palace source says they have “shared our hopes and prayers that Pope Francis’s health will enable the visit to go ahead”.
Details released today reveal the King will meet the Pope and celebrate the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee year “subject to Pope Francis’s health”.
They will also attend services at Sistine Chapel and Papal Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls.
Choir members from the Chapel Royal, of St James’s Palace, and St George’s Chapel, Windsor, will perform at both.
The King will also meet Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, attend a State Banquet, and also become the first monarch to address the Italian Parliament.
The visit will be marked by a joint flypast with the Red Arrows and Italian aerobatic team the ‘Frecce Tricolori’.
Capping the four-day visit they will travel to Ravenna to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation from Nazi occupation and take part in a food festival.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The Visit to the Holy See will be an historic visit in the year of the Papal Jubilee, and will mark a significant step forward in relations between the Catholic Church and Church of England with a special service in the Sistine Chapel, joining hands in a celebration of ecumenism.
“The Visit to Italy will underscore the depth and breadth of the bilateral relationship: our defence relationship including in the current international context; our shared values, history and culture; our work together on the clean energy transition; and the links between our peoples and communities.”
It will be the King’s third State Visit since he was crowned in September 2022, coming after trips to Germany and France.