King Charles III wrote privately to Pope Leo
Charles III, 77, has himself been treated since early 2024 for cancer, the nature of which has not been revealed.
Leo XIV, who had a cancerous nodule removed from his lung on Tuesday, began his convalescence in Rome. The tests must determine whether the disease has spread beyond the operated lesion.
The pope, aged 71, must remain hospitalized for about a week at the Gemelli polyclinic, in the northwest of the Italian capital. The British sovereign is the supreme governor of the Anglican Church of England.
Charles III made a state visit to the Vatican in October 2025. The king and Leo XIV then prayed together during an ecumenical celebration in the Sistine Chapel, a first since the Anglican schism in the 16th century. This visit was described as “historic” by Buckingham Palace.
Anglicanism was born in 1534 from a split with the Catholic Church, caused by the King of England Henry VIII following the Pope’s refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
