The Royal Chair and the Empty Gesture: King Charles Honoured at St Paul Outside the Walls
A historic moment of royal and papal prayer
For the first time since the Reformation, a reigning British monarch will pray publicly with the Pope. The Guardian reports that “King Charles is the first reigning English monarch in 500 years to pray publicly with a pope.”¹
The occasion takes place at the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, October 23, when the King and Queen Camilla will be received by Pope Leo XIV. Vatican News notes that the meeting “focuses on two key themes: Christian unity and care for the environment,” describing the ceremony as “a sign of friendship and hope.”²
The basilica’s Benedictine community has created a new oak chair for the monarch, carved with the royal arms and bearing the inscription Ut unum sint — “that they may be one.” According to People Magazine, it is “a unique commemorative chair … later to remain there permanently.”³ The Religion Media Centre adds that “the King will be given the title of Royal Confrater … and a special chair has been made for him, which will be used by him and his successors.”⁴
The visit itself follows the cancellation of the originally planned March audience, when Reuters reported: “King Charles cancels visit to Vatican as Pope Francis told to rest.”⁵
The Archbishop’s published response
In his public reflection, The Empty Chair: A Reflection on the Royal Visit to Rome, the Archbishop of Selsey comments directly on the meaning of the event.
“A chair has been made for the occasion, carved in English oak and adorned with the royal arms. Its purpose, we are told, is to symbolise the friendship between Canterbury and Rome. Yet this is not friendship born of faith, nor unity grounded in truth. It is a gesture of diplomacy, not a sign of conversion — a symbol of goodwill without repentance, and of courtesy without confession.”⁶
The Archbishop continues:
“The monarch being honoured is not returning to the faith of his forebears, but stands as the constitutional head of a communion that long ago repudiated the Apostolic See, denied the Sacrifice of the Mass, and enthroned Parliament above the altar of God.”⁶
He identifies the symbolism of the chair as a metaphor for modern ecumenism:
“The empty chair in St Paul’s, carved and gilded for a monarch who does not believe as the Church believes, stands as a parable of modern ecumenism itself: beautifully made, ceremoniously placed, and spiritually hollow.”⁶
Theological Problems with the Royal Confrater Certificate
The certificate conferring the title Regalis Confrater Basilicae Papalis et Abbatiae S. Pauli extra Moenia embodies several serious theological ambiguities from a traditional Catholic standpoint.
First, it treats the Church of England as an ecclesial partner on a “common ecumenical journey,” directly contradicting the perennial teaching of the Church that unity already subsists fully in the Catholic Church and that separated Christians must return to her, not “progress together.” This language reflects the post-conciliar redefinition of ecumenism condemned by Mortalium Animos (Pius XI).
Second, by bestowing an ecclesial honour on a non-Catholic monarch, the document implies spiritual fellowship (confraternitas) without conversion or profession of the true faith. It grants a quasi-sacramental dignity to one who is constitutionally the head of a heretical body, confusing charity with communion and undermining the visible boundaries of the Church.
Third, its use of scriptural citations divorced from doctrinal context—especially Ut omnes unum sint (John 17:21)—reduces Christ’s prayer for unity to a sentimental ideal rather than the objective unity of faith, sacraments, and governance.
Finally, the tone of “gratitude for the steps taken since the Second Vatican Council” reframes the English schism as a misunderstanding gradually healing through dialogue, rather than a grave rupture requiring repentance.
In sum, the certificate substitutes diplomacy for doctrine: it offers the symbolism of reconciliation while denying the necessity of conversion to Catholic truth.
Enduring divisions
The Archbishop recalls that the Church of England’s Articles of Religion still condemn “the sacrifices of Masses … as blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits.”⁷ He describes the recent appointment of a woman to the See of Canterbury as “a decisive act of apostasy that seals the final rupture with apostolic tradition.”⁶
Citing the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the Archbishop notes that its dialogues failed to produce genuine doctrinal unity: “Later ARCIC statements maintained the form of dialogue but lacked its substance … full communion remains impossible while the Anglican Communion persists in errors regarding Orders, moral theology, and sacramental discipline.”⁶
Pluralism and symbolism
The Archbishop contrasts the theological purpose of unity with what he calls the “ideological spirit that animates” the meeting:
“For both monarch and pontiff are shaped by the same pluralist creed — the modern superstition that truth must bow to inclusivity. The meeting of King and Pope thus becomes the liturgy of modernity itself: a ceremony for a world that believes in everything and therefore in nothing.”⁶
He adds:
“Charity divorced from truth is not love but indulgence, and unity without conversion is not reconciliation but surrender.”⁶
A call to prayer
The reflection concludes with a pastoral exhortation:
“Let every faithful Catholic take this moment not as cause for despair but as a summons to renewal. The collapse of visible unity is not the end of the Church’s mission but a reminder of it. We must become witnesses of authentic charity — rooted in truth, animated by prayer, and expressed through holiness of life.”⁶
“The only path to reunion remains the same now as in the days of Campion and More: conversion to the truth of Christ in His one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.”⁶
Footnotes
¹ The Guardian, “King Charles to be first reigning English monarch in 500 years to pray publicly with pope,” 17 Oct 2025.
² Vatican News, “Pope Leo XIV to receive King Charles and Queen Camilla: unity and care for creation,” 20 Oct 2025.
³ People Magazine, “King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Rescheduled Visit to the Vatican Will Include a Unique Gift for the Monarch,” 18 Oct 2025.
⁴ Religion Media Centre, “The visit of King Charles to the Vatican: its significance and timeline,” 19 Oct 2025.
⁵ Reuters, “King Charles cancels visit to Vatican as Pope Francis told to rest,” 25 Mar 2025.
⁶ Archbishop of Selsey, The Empty Chair: A Reflection on the Royal Visit to Rome, ✠ SELEISI, 22 Oct 2025, https://selsey.org/2025/10/22/the-empty-chair-a-reflection-on-the-royal-visit-to-rome/.
⁷ Articles of Religion, Article XXXI, Book of Common Prayer (1662).
Leave a Reply