The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Dame Sarah Mullally, will meet and pray with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on Monday during her four-day pilgrimage to Rome.
Archbishop Sarah Mullally will have an audience with the Pope at the Vatican on Monday morning, during which they will meet privately before each giving an address. The Archbishop’s delegation will include the Most Revd Richard Moth, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. She will then join the Pope for midday prayer in the Chapel of Urban VIII within the Apostolic Palace. In addition, she will meet with officials from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and will be given a tour of the Vatican Museums.
The Archbishop’s four-day pilgrimage to Rome will begin tomorrow. She will pray at the Tomb of St Peter in the Papal Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican, before praying at the Tomb of St Paul in the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. It was here, 60 years ago, that the Common Declaration between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI was signed on 24 March 1966, the first formal ecumenical statement between Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches.
The purpose of the visit is to strengthen Anglican–Roman Catholic relations through prayer, personal encounter, and formal theological dialogue. It aims to deepen bonds of communion, affirm a shared witness, and encourage ongoing collaboration at both global and local levels.
On Sunday morning, Archbishop Sarah will preside at Sung Eucharist with Holy Baptism at All Saints’, Anglican Church Rome, the Church of England congregation in the city, before preaching at Evensong at St Paul’s Within the Walls, a part of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, later in the afternoon. During the day, she will also make pilgrim visits to pray at the Papal Basilica and Cathedral of St John Lateran and the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major.
On Monday evening, Archbishop Sarah will officiate at Choral Evensong at the Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola, during which she will commission Bishop Anthony Ball, Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See. The preacher will be His Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation.
The pilgrimage will conclude on Tuesday with visits to the Joel Nafuma Refugee Centre (JNRC) at St Paul’s Within the Walls and to projects run by the Sant’Egidio Community.
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s visit takes place within the context of the long-standing ecumenical relationship between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, rooted in the historic 1966 meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI.
That encounter inaugurated a renewed commitment to visible unity, which continues to be expressed today through the work of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the International Anglican–Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), and the ministry of the Anglican Centre in Rome.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Dame Sarah Mullally, said: “As I prepare to make this pilgrimage, I know that I follow in the footsteps of those who have come before me, and I give thanks for the deepening dialogue and fellowship between Anglicans and Catholics over the last sixty years. It is a joy and privilege to meet and pray with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, and I look forward to our time of conversation and prayer.
“I also look forward to meeting and worshipping with the Anglican community in Rome, and to seeing the work of Anglicans and Catholics supporting those in need across the city. I ask that Anglicans across the Church of England and around the Anglican Communion join and journey with me in prayer. Our world needs the peace, justice, and hope that Jesus Christ brings, and I give thanks that our churches can walk together as we share that good news with the world.”