Pope Leo XIV prays with Archbishop Mullally

Pope Leo XIV met Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally at the Vatican on Monday, prayed with her, and said Catholics and Anglicans must keep working through their differences. (vaticannews.va) (vatican.va) The meeting took place April 27 in the Apostolic Palace, where Leo received Mullally in audience and joined her for prayer in the Urban VIII Chapel. Mullally was on the third day of a Rome pilgrimage that ran from April 25 to April 28. (vaticannews.va) (episcopalnewsservice.org) Leo tied the visit to a 60-year milestone. He recalled the April 1966 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which launched formal modern dialogue between Rome and Canterbury. (vatican.va) (vaticannews.va) He also gave the clearest limit in his remarks. Leo said “new problems” in recent decades have made “the pathway to full communion more difficult to discern,” even though earlier talks made progress on some historic disputes. (vatican.va) At the same time, Leo said divisions among Christians weaken their witness on war and peace. He repeated his description of Christ’s peace as “unarmed” and said Christians should proclaim that message together. (vaticannews.va) (vatican.va) Mullally used her own address to frame the visit as a continuation of that ecumenical track. She cited the Anglican Centre in Rome, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, and the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission as products of the post-1966 relationship. (episcopalnewsservice.org) Her presence carried its own significance. Mullally was installed on March 25, 2026, as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury and the first woman to hold the office in its 1,400-year history. (anglicancommunion.org) (churchofengland.org) That history also sharpens the tension in the relationship. The Catholic Church does not ordain women as priests or bishops, while the Church of England does, and Leo explicitly said the Anglican Communion is facing some of the same contested questions that complicate ecumenical talks. (apnews.com) (vatican.va) The encounter was symbolic, but it was not presented as a doctrinal reset. Leo exchanged gifts with Mullally, thanked her for the visit, and said both churches should keep moving in “friendship and dialogue,” even where differences look intractable. (vaticannews.va) (episcopalnewsservice.org) So the message from Rome was two-track: public warmth, private prayer, and no claim that unity is close. Leo’s closing line was narrower and more practical — keep talking, keep praying, and keep using “every possible opportunity” to witness together. (vatican.va)