(Photo: Vatican Media)
Amid significant personal milestones and health challenges, King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to Italy featured a notable meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. The gathering, held in Casa Santa Marta, marked a significant occasion for both the British royals and the Pope.
The royal visit coincided with King Charles’s 20th wedding anniversary and the fourth anniversary of Prince Philip’s passing. For Pope Francis, who recently returned to Casa Santa Marta after an extended hospital stay due to double pneumonia, it was an opportunity to engage with the King despite ongoing health challenges.
Pope Francis, aged 88, had been hospitalized for nearly 40 days, raising concerns about his health. His recovery, described as a “period of trial,” was closely watched, and uncertainties about his condition lingered until his release from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital just over two weeks ago.
King Charles has also confronted health issues, having been hospitalized last month due to cancer treatment side effects. Although the specifics of his cancer diagnosis remain private, it is confirmed that he does not have prostate cancer.
The Holy See Press Office released a statement about the private meeting, saying, “Pope Francis met privately with Their Majesties, King Charles and Queen Camilla, this afternoon. In the course of the meeting, the Pope expressed his best wishes to Their Majesties on the occasion of their wedding anniversary and reciprocated His Majesty’s wishes for a speedy recovery of his health.”
Initial doubts about whether the meeting would occur emerged due to Pope Francis’s health recovery. Buckingham Palace announced on 24 March that a meeting might not take place, as the Pope had not yet fully recuperated from his illness.
This encounter wasn’t the first between King Charles and Pope Francis. In 2019, when Charles was still the Prince of Wales, he attended the canonisation ceremony of Cardinal Newman at the Vatican. Cardinal Newman, a former Church of England priest who converted to Roman Catholicism, was the first British individual canonised in 40 years.
This article was originally written by www.christiantoday.com
