Buckingham Palace is pressing ahead with plans for the King and Queen to visit the Holy See next month, as Pope Francis continues to battle pneumonia.
A Palace source has told GB News: “Our hopes and prayers are that Pope Francis’s health will enable the visit to go ahead.”
It is understood royal officials are in daily contact with the Vatican and His Majesty wrote privately to Pope Francis when he was first taken ill.
King Charles, who himself continues a weekly cycle of cancer treatment, and Queen Camilla are due to undertake State Visits to both the Holy See and Italy next month.
King Charles’s 'hopes and prayers' with ailing Pope Francis ahead of historic state visit
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During the Italian State Visit, Their Majesties will travel to Rome and Ravenna.
The outlook for the Pontiff’s health is looking positive, and it is understood officials are hopeful the State Visit to the Vatican can go ahead as planned.
Pope Francis has been suffering from serious ill health and has spent a month in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
This weekend, the first photograph was released of His Holiness since his hospital admission, showing him sitting in a wheelchair in the hospital’s chapel in front of the altar.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “Their Majesties’ programmes are designed to celebrate the UK’s warm bilateral relationship with each country.
Pope Francis has been in hospital for over two weeksPADon't Miss
"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, and of the work The King and The Pope have done over many years on climate and Nature.”
“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.”
The King and Queen are expected to join Pope Francis in celebrating the 2025 Jubilee, which is traditionally held once every 25 years. “Pilgrims of Hope” is this year’s theme, and is dubbed a chance to reconcile, pray and walk together in harmony.
King Charles is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, a role created by King Henry VIII in 1534 when he cut ties with the Catholic Church to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
For the first time in history, the King will visit the Papal Basilica of ‘St. Paul’s Outside the Walls’, which English Kings had a special link to until King Henry VIII’s Reformation.
King Charles meeting Pope Benedict with Queen Camilla in 2009PAMost Read
The location is now a place where reconciliation, ecumenism and relationships across the Christian faith are celebrated.
Both the King and Queen will also have an audience with Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, and will attend a nature and sustainability-themed Service in the world-famous Sistine Chapel.
The ‘care for creation’ service is designed to reflect Pope Francis’ and His Majesty’s “long-standing commitment to Nature”.
Separately, Queen Camilla will meet Catholic Sisters from The International Union of Superiors General.
A Palace spokesperson said the group are “working around the world to promote female empowerment, through girls’ education programmes, improved access to healthcare, climate action and the prevention of sexual violence and human trafficking.”
In Italy, Their Majesties are expected to take part in major ceremonial engagements, particularly in Rome. Audiences will be held with both President Mattarella and Prime Minister Meloni, and His Majesty will become the first British Monarch to address a joint session of the Italian Parliament - only the fourth non-Italian to ever do so.
A new picture of Pope Francis was released over the weekend
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A black-tie State Banquet at the Palazzo Quirinale, hosted by The President in Their Majesties’ honour, is also planned. The UK Government is sending the King and Queen to Italy at a time when global tensions are rising.
Both the UK and Italy are NATO Allies and work together to defend each other’s countries. A joint flypast over Rome by the Italian Air Force aerobatic team, ‘Frecce Tricolori’ and by the Royal Air Force acrobatic team, the Red Arrows, is expected to symbolise the military ties.
The King and Queen will be visiting Ravenna 80 years to the day since it was liberated from Nazi occupation by British and Canadian forces. A reception in the Town Hall will commemorate the anniversary on April 10. Traditional Emilia-Romagna cuisine, Slow Food, will be celebrated at a local festival where the King will meet local farmers, whose land and crops were severely affected by devastating floods.
British and Italian literature is also expected to be celebrated, and Queen Camilla will meet a diverse group of school children who have been taking part in a competition to mark the 80th Anniversary of the British Council, describing or imagining a day in the life of their favourite literary characters.
Her Majesty will also attend a reception for local book clubs, libraries, book shops and representatives from her charity “The Queen’s Reading Room”. The King will visit Ravenna’s Basilica di San Vitale and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, to see historic mosaics dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries.
The King, as Prince of Wales, has visited the Holy See on five occasions, including for the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. His Majesty has officially visited Italy a whopping 17 times, with his first visit in 1984 and most recent in October 2021 for the G20 Summit in Rome. The King and Queen’s State Visits to the Holy See and Italy will take place from April 7 to April 10.
