An honorary title swapped between a King and a Pope revives a link that the Reformation broke about five centuries ago.
LONDON, England (Crown and Clown) – Some royal news arrives with a fanfare, and some arrives in the quiet language of ecclesiastical titles, where the most dramatic word in the announcement is “confrater.” The latest from Windsor belongs firmly to the second category, and it is more interesting than it first looks.
What was announced at Windsor
The official Royal website press release says the Dean and Canons of Windsor, with the approval of the King, announced that Pope Leo XIV has accepted the title of Papal Confrater of the College of St George at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. The Palace describes it as a visible sign of spiritual fellowship, ecumenical friendship and Christian fraternity, and as recognition of a long relationship between the College and Chapel and the Holy See.
The invitation followed the King and Queen’s State Visit to the Holy See, when the King met the Pope. On that visit the King was welcomed, with the Pope’s approval, as Royal Confrater of the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. Windsor has now returned the compliment. The release notes that the Dean and Canons made their invitation with the King’s approval and the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Why the history matters
The Palace page makes a striking claim: that the King and the Pope are receiving religious titles from each other’s churches for the first time in about 500 years, and it ties the gap to Henry VIII’s Reformation. Before the middle of the sixteenth century, the page says, the Kings of England had a recognised role in relation to St Paul’s Outside the Walls. The Reformation ended that, and the connection lay dormant for centuries.
Reporting from EWTN News places the new title in a longer story. It records that English kings were once regarded as protectors of that Roman basilica, whose coat of arms carried the insignia of the Order of the Garter, and that the Reformation interrupted the tradition before centuries of estrangement followed. For a monarchy that likes to say it has seen everything, this is a rare example of a gesture that really is without recent precedent.
Chairs, a mosaic and the autumn calendar
Ceremony tends to leave furniture behind, and this is no exception. The Palace says specially commissioned chairs were created for both sites. The King’s chair sits beside the monastic stalls at St Paul’s Outside the Walls, while the Pope’s chair will be unveiled at St George’s Chapel in due course. EWTN adds that the Roman chair bears the royal coat of arms and the Latin motto Ut unum sint, “That they may be one.”
- The King will attend a service later this autumn to dedicate and install a Mosaic Icon of the Christ of Cefalu, a gift from the Pope, in the South Quire Aisle of St George’s Chapel.
- The honours exchanged during the State Visit included orders from each side, according to EWTN.
- The Pope’s chair at Windsor has no announced date yet.
How the churches have responded
There is a sensible caution in the way the news has been received. Infovaticana reported that the Archbishop of Westminster, Richard Moth, who leads the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, welcomed the appointment as a sign of hope for Catholic and Anglican relations. The same report is candid that doctrinal differences remain, including papal authority, the priesthood, the sacraments and the ordination of women.
That honesty is worth underlining. A title is a gesture of friendship, not a theological settlement, and nobody in the reporting suggests otherwise. The Palace speaks of fellowship and a shared commitment to Christian unity, which is a more modest and more achievable ambition than agreement on the finer points of doctrine.
What this says about the modern Crown
Strip away the Latin and the point is straightforward. The monarchy is one of the few British institutions that can afford a long view. A prime minister has an electoral cycle; a king can think in centuries, and can hold a symbolic exchange like this one as an act of patience rather than policy. It costs little, the reporting I have seen records no objection, and it ties the Crown to a story that readers still recognise.
Sceptics will reasonably ask what it achieves beyond photographs and furniture. Supporters will answer that symbolism is precisely the Crown’s specialty, and that a century of small gestures between Canterbury, Rome and Windsor is how big reconciliations are usually built. I find both arguments fair, and I note that no one has claimed the title changes the law or the constitution.
If you want a lighter detour from ecclesiastical titles, the London Prat’s comedy archive is only a click away, and a Cockney rhyming slang explainer will teach you more about London speech than any Latin motto. If you are ever unsure whether a headline is serious, try how to spot a joke in the news.
I write about the Crown for The London Prat; more of my royal and Westminster reporting at The London Prat sits beside the wider mix at Bohiney Magazine. Keep an eye on the Windsor calendar this autumn: the icon service is the next date to watch, and the Pope’s chair is the piece of furniture still missing from the story.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/