Pope Leo XIV met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, on Monday, April 27, at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.
This meeting was historically significant as it marked the first official visit to Rome by Mullally, who is the first woman to serve as the spiritual head of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.
The encounter was described as a “spiritual pilgrimage” intended to strengthen relations between the two churches. Following a private audience, they participated in a service of Daytime Prayer in the Chapel of Urban VIII.
The service of Daytime Prayer (also known as Midday Prayer or Sext) is a brief, focused liturgy from the Liturgy of the Hours, the daily prayer cycle used by the Catholic Church and many Anglican traditions.
The conversation between the two focused on the “complex” and “challenging” nature of modern ecumenical relations.
Pope Leo acknowledged that while historic progress has been made, “new problems” (referring to internal Anglican divisions and the ordination of women) have made the path to full communion more difficult to discern. He emphasised that it would be a “scandal” if their differences prevented them from proclaiming Christ to the world together.
Archbishop Mullally thanked the Pope for his “courageous calls” for peace and hope amidst global violence. She spoke about the Holy Spirit inviting both churches into a “deeper practice of hospitality” as a form of ministry.
“Unity is not the erasure of our stories, but the weaving of them into a larger tapestry of God’s grace. Our task today is to be a people of the ‘open door’ — practising a hospitality that looks past the walls of the past to see the neighbour of the future.”
Both leaders affirmed a commitment to working together for the common good, specifically citing issues like social injustice, poverty, and environmental care.
The Archbishop presented the Pope with a 1910 edition of The Dream of Gerontius by St. John Henry Newman and a Peruvian retablo (a traditional nativity scene), honouring the Pope’s past pastoral ministry in Peru.
The meeting was framed as a continuation of the tradition started in 1966 when Pope Paul VI met Archbishop Michael Ramsey.
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