“I am delighted King Charles and Queen Camilla will visit the Holy See and meet with Pope Francis during this special Jubilee Year when so many will gather in Rome as pilgrims of hope. This visit presents a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate the close relationship between the UK and the Holy See”. With these words, in a release posted by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Catholic primate Vincent Nichols welcomed the announcement made by Buckingham Palace that the British King and Queen will go on a state visit to the Holy See and to Italy in early April. The UK Ambassador to the Holy See, Chris Trott, too wrote in a post on “X” that he is “’absolutely delighted’ that the King and Queen will be visiting the Holy See this year”. The official release in which Buckingham Palace announced such visit confirms that “the King and Queen will join His Holiness Pope Francis in celebrating the 2025 Jubilee Year, and, during their visit, will undertake engagements in Rome and Ravenna”. When he was Prince of Wales, Charles met Pope Francis on several occasions and again in 2019, on the occasion of the canonisation of John Henry Newman, and received all of the last three Pontiffs in Great Britain, but for Elisabeth II’s son it is the very first visit to the Vatican as a King and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.