Pope Leo prays with Sarah Mullally

Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally met at the Vatican on April 27, prayed together, and said Catholics and Anglicans should keep working together. (apnews.com) (vaticannews.va) The meeting took place in the Apostolic Palace, where Leo received Mullally in audience and then joined her in prayer in the Urban VIII Chapel. Vatican News said it came during the Easter season and on the third day of Mullally’s pilgrimage to Rome. (vaticannews.va) (episcopalnewsservice.org) Leo told Mullally that Catholics and Anglicans must continue efforts to overcome differences “no matter how intractable they may appear.” He also said divisions should not block “every possible opportunity” to proclaim Christ together. (vatican.va) (press.vatican.va) The symbolism ran deeper than the prayer itself. Mullally is the first woman to lead the Church of England and the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, while the Catholic Church does not ordain women as priests. (apnews.com) (nytimes.com) Leo explicitly tied the encounter to a 60-year ecumenical anniversary. He recalled the 1966 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which helped launch the modern Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue and the Anglican Centre in Rome. (vaticannews.va) (vatican.va) Reuters reported that Leo and Mullally exchanged gifts during their first meeting. Mullally later commissioned Bishop Anthony Ball as her representative to the Holy See, another marker of the formal ties between the two churches. (usnews.com) (vatican.va) The Vatican encounter followed Leo’s April 26 ordination Mass for 10 new priests in St. Peter’s Basilica. In that homily, he told them to keep the Church’s doors open, not become obstacles to seekers, and act as a “channel, not a filter.” (catholicreview.org) (cathstan.org) Mullally had already aligned herself with Leo on international issues earlier in April. Reuters reported on April 16 that she backed his call for a “kingdom of peace” and urged Anglicans worldwide to speak out for peace and justice. (msn.com) The meeting did not erase the old disputes between Rome and Canterbury. It showed both leaders choosing prayer, formal dialogue, and shared public witness over pretending those disputes no longer exist. (apnews.com) (vatican.va)