Pope Leo XIV has met with the newly installed Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, in a landmark Vatican audience that highlighted calls for greater unity between the Catholic and Anglican Churches.
The meeting on Monday, April 27, marked Mullally’s first foreign visit since her historic appointment last month as the first woman to lead the world’s Anglicans and the Church of England.
Addressing her and her delegation, Pope Leo stressed the need for Christian unity in the face of global challenges.
“While our suffering world greatly needs the peace of Christ, the divisions among Christians weaken our capacity to be effective bearers of that peace,” Pope Leo told Mullally and her delegation in an address published by the Vatican.
He added that closer collaboration is essential for evangelisation, saying: “If the world is to take our preaching to heart, we must, therefore, be constant in our prayers and efforts to remove any stumbling blocks that hinder the proclamation of the Gospel,” and noted that “unity for the sake of a more fruitful evangelisation” has remained a consistent theme of his ministry.
Pope Leo also acknowledged ongoing progress in relations between both churches on long-standing issues, while noting that “new problems have arisen in recent decades,” without providing further detail.
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“Nevertheless, we must not allow these continuing challenges to prevent us from using every possible opportunity to proclaim Christ to the world together,” said Leo, the 70-year-old leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Mullally, 63, a former nurse who is married with two children, recently made history as the first woman to assume the role of Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Catholic Church and the Church of England have experienced centuries of separation dating back to the 16th century when King Henry VIII broke away from Rome to establish the Church of England.
While relations have improved over time, tensions resurfaced in recent years, particularly following debates over the ordination of women, a practice still not permitted in the Catholic Church.
The Church of England began ordaining female bishops in 2014, though the issue continues to generate debate.
Mullally’s Vatican visit also comes six months after King Charles III met Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first supreme governor of the Church of England to pray alongside a pontiff.