King Charles and Queen Camilla’s visit to the Holy See and meeting with Pope Francis on their upcoming state visit to Italy has been postponed as the pontiff continues to recover from double pneumonia

The King and Queen’s state visit to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis next month has been postponed, Buckingham Palace has announced. The couple are visting Italy from April 7 and a meeting with the pontiff, who has been suffering ill health, had been on the cards.

However, it has now been postponed by mutual agreement so Francis can continue his recovery from double pneuomia. A statement from Buckingham Palace said: “The King and Queen’s State Visit to The Holy See has been postponed by mutual agreement, as medical advice has now suggested that Pope Francis would benefit from an extended period of rest and recuperation.

Charles last meeting with Pope Francis was in 2017 ( 
Image:
PA)

“Their Majesties send The Pope their best wishes for his convalescence and look forward to visiting him in The Holy See, once he has recovered.” The King and Queen’s tour of Italy is understood to still be going ahead, however there are expected to be some changes to the programme.Just last week, a palace source said they had shared “our hopes and prayers that Pope Francis’s health will enable the visit to go ahead”. The visit to the Vatican and Italy, exclusively revealed earlier this year by the Mirror, was set to celebrate the papal jubilee and the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.

On Sunday, the pontiff left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after a five-week stay. However, he was released after 38 days of treatment under doctors’ orders to observe two months of convalescence during which he should avoid large gatherings. The Pope appeared weak and frail when he greeted the crowd outside the Gemelli hospital before his discharge, leaving a question mark over whether he would meet the royal couple.

The Pope appeared at the window of the Gemelli hospital before being discharged on Sunday ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
However, the visit to Italy which is still believed to be going ahead, will also hold special significance for Charles, 76 and Camilla, 77, as it will take place over their 20th wedding anniversary on April 9. During the trip, the King will hold audiences with Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the monarch and his wife will attend a black-tie state banquet at the Palazzo Quirinale, hosted by the president.

The state visit was announced just over a week before the Pope was admitted to hospital. Charles has written privately to Francis since he was taken ill, and is likely to have wished him a speedy recovery. Charles, supreme governor of the Church of England, last met the Pope in 2019 when he was the Prince of Wales, for the canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Other highlights of the trip to Italy will see the UK and Italy’s defence co-operation marked by a joint flypast over Rome by the Italian Air Force’s aerobatic team, Frecce Tricolori, and by the RAF’s Red Arrows. In Ravenna, near Bologna, Charles and Camilla will mark the 80th anniversary of the province’s liberation from Nazi occupation by Allied forces on April 10 1945 during a town hall reception, and will celebrate literary culture by visiting Dante’s tomb, with the Queen making a solo trip to the Byron museum.

Meanwhile, Francis has returned to his residence at Casa Santa Marta, where he will receive treatment including mobility and respiratory-related physiotherapy, especially for voice recovery, and engage in personal prayer, according to the Vatican. Doctors also advised the Pope to have 24-hour medical assistance, including oxygen therapy and in case of any emergencies. “You have continued to pray for me with so much patience and perseverance. Thank you so much. I also pray for you,” Francis said in a post on X on Sunday.

The Argentine Pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli on February 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs.

Dr Sergio Alfieri, the medical and surgical chief at Gemelli who coordinated Francis’s medical team, confirmed that the pontiff was still having trouble speaking due to the damage to his lungs and respiratory muscles.