Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering visiting the Vatican in spring to meet Pope Leo XIV, according to Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States. A papal visit to the UK in the next few years is also likely, Archbishop Gallagher said.
Speaking on October 13 following the Tablet’s annual lecture, the archbishop pointed to King Charles III’s historic visit to the Vatican in October. The Holy Father and the King prayed together at an ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel, the first public act of worship between a reigning British monarch and a pope since the Reformation.
