and make history as the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with the pontiff since the schism between the churches 500 years ago. The visit comes at a delicate time for the British king following new revelations about his brother, Prince Andrew, who is mired in a scandal surrounding late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Charles and Queen Camilla will meet Leo for the first time since he succeeded the late pope Francis in May. On Thursday, Charles and Leo will pray together in the first such public religious moment since Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church after the then pope refused to annul his marriage to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon.

In 1961, the king's mother, the late queen Elizabeth II, became the first British monarch to visit the Holy See since the 16th-century fracture. The two-day visit will "mark a significant moment in relations between the Catholic Church and Church of England, of which His Majesty is Supreme Governor", Buckingham Palace said. Thursday's ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel will be held under the magnificent ceiling adorned with the paintings by Michelangelo. (Bssnews)