King Charles praying that visit to see Pope will go ahead

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's King Charles is still hoping to see Pope Francis during a state visit to the Vatican and Italy next month, a Buckingham Palace source said on Tuesday, more than a month after the pontiff went into hospital.

In February, the palace said Charles and his wife Queen Camilla would travel to Rome in April and the couple would meet the 88-year-old pope, but days later Francis was taken to hospital with a severe respiratory infection.

On Sunday, the Vatican released the first image of the pontiff since his February 14 admission, and said Francis was gradually improving, using less mechanical ventilation at night to help with breathing.

The royals' three-day trip is set to begin on April 7, with the meeting with the pope scheduled for the following day. Royal officials expressed their "hopes and prayers that Pope Francis' health will enable the visit to go ahead", sentiments that Charles and Camilla shared, a palace source said.

Charles, 76, who is himself recovering from cancer, meaning his workload has to be carefully managed, wrote privately to the pope when Francis was taken ill, the source said. The pair met during Charles' visits to Rome in 2017 and 2019 before he became king.

As British monarch, Charles heads the Church of England which split from the Catholic Church in 1534. A palace spokesperson said his trip would symbolise a significant step forward in relations between the two, as well as marking celebrations for 2025 Catholic Holy Year.

Charles is slated to visit the Papal Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, to which English kings had a particular link before the schism from Rome, and the royal couple are also due to visit the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

Charles and Camilla's Italian agenda includes audiences with President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and an address to the joint houses of parliament, in a first for a British monarch.

The visit coincides with the 20th wedding anniversary of Charles and Camilla, who married on April 9, 2005. Their nuptials took place the day after the funeral of Pope John Paul II, which Charles attended as then heir to the throne.

(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Alvise Armellini and Andrew Heavens)