Pope Leo is made a Papal Confrater at Windsor by King Charles a year after they prayed together in Rome

King Charles has made Pope Leo a Papal Confrater of Windsor — an honour described by Buckingham Palace as a 'visible sign of spiritual fellowship' and a mark of a 'shared desire for Christian unity' — just days after surgeons removed part of the 71-year-old pontiff's right lung, the lower lobe, in a cancer operation. A specially commissioned chair for Leo will be unveiled at St George's Chapel in due course. Charles, 77, received a matching title in Rome last October.

Charles was the first British monarch to pray publicly with a Pope since the Reformation.

Leo's recovery means he will not make his planned October 27 visit to Assisi.

Charles, still receiving his own cancer treatment, sent Leo a message after his diagnosis.