Dicastery Official preaches in English Royal Palace

On Sunday 18 January, the Dicastery Official responsible for relations with the Anglican Communion, Revd Fr Martin Browne OSB, was the invited preacher at the weekly service of Choral Mattins in His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, at St James’ Palace, London. St James’ Palace, one of the official residences of the British sovereign, was the site of the formal proclamation in 2022 of the accession to the throne of the United Kingdom of His Majesty King Charles III.

As well as marking the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the invitation was offered as a fraternal gesture of hospitality following the State Visit of King Charles and Queen Camilla to the Holy See in October 2025. The service was led by the Sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal, the Revd Canon Paul Wright. The Children of the Chapel Royal, who sang at the service, also sang at the services in the Sistine Chapel and at the Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls during the royal visit to Rome.

In his sermon, Fr Martin noted that St James’ Palace and the Chapel Royal had been built at the command of King Henry VIII who, in declaring himself Supreme Head of the Church, had separated the Church of England from Rome. This resulted in his excommunication by Pope Clement VII. It was this Pope Clement VII who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the massive fresco of the Last Judgement, under which King Charles had sat during the service in the Sistine Chapel. He offered thanks for the process of dialogue and reconciliation which enabled that service to take place, in which “the current successors of the one who was excommunicated in 1533 and the one who excommunicated him praised the Creator together – giving thanks, ‘for [their] creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life.’”