{"id":523777,"date":"2025-10-24T03:36:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T03:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/523777\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T03:36:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T03:36:26","slug":"prominent-northern-ireland-cleric-calls-for-king-charles-to-abdicate-after-prayer-with-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/523777\/","title":{"rendered":"Prominent Northern Ireland cleric calls for King Charles to abdicate after prayer with pope"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"Patrick
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

By Patrick J. Passmore<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Dublin, Ireland, Oct 23, 2025 \/
\n 18:04 pm<\/p>\n

King Charles III has acted contrary to the oath made at his coronation and should now \u201clet someone else take his place, who is a true Protestant and who will take their vows seriously,\u201d a prominent Free Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland said after the king prayed with Pope Leo XIV<\/a> on Thursday in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.<\/p>\n

Rev. Kyle Paisley, the son of firebrand Democratic Unionist Party founder Ian Paisley, made the statements in a letter to Newspapers in Northern Ireland <\/strong><\/a>and subsequently in an interview on BBC Radio<\/a> as well as other media outlets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Sistine Chapel prayer service, King Charles, the supreme governor of the Church of England, accompanied by Queen Camilla, sat at Pope Leo\u2019s left-hand side as the pope and Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell led prayers.<\/p>\n

\"PopePope Leo XIV and King Charles III pray together in the Sistine Chapel during a historic meeting at the Vatican on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media<\/p>\n

The historic meeting and prayer service was also publicly lamented by the Orange Order, an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. The group\u00a0decried the ecumenical prayers as a \u201csad day for Protestantism,\u201d expressing \u201cgreat sadness\u201d and raising its objections in the \u201cstrongest possible terms.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his comments, Paisley questioned whether the historic prayer in Rome was \u201ccynical timing\u201d coming 500 years after the printing of the New Testament in English by William Tyndale, something he claims still has the papacy \u201clicking its wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt his coronation, the king affirmed that he was a true Protestant and promised to uphold the religion of the established church in England as well as that of the Church of Scotland, which is historically Protestant,\u201d Paisley said. \u201cOur king has denied the Christian Gospel, flown in the face of holy Scripture, given the lie to his oath, and shown that he is not at all what he says he is \u2014 a true Protestant.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cProtestantism takes the Bible as the sole rule of faith and practice. Romanism does not. Her rule of faith and practice is the Scriptures as interpreted by the Church \u2014 that is, by the Roman Catholic Church \u2014 and tradition. This effectively makes the Church the rule of faith and practice. God\u2019s word on its own is not enough for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace Thompson of the Evangelical Protestant Society in Northern Ireland agreed with Paisley, though he did not call for the king\u2019s abdication. He <\/strong>told the BBC<\/a>: \u201cThe issues that were there at the time of the Reformation are still there \u2014 deep, deep doctrinal differences. The two churches are so far apart that you shouldn\u2019t feel you can engage in joint prayer \u2014 conversation, yes. This is symbolic. The king gives certain values at his coronation to maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant reformed religion established by law. He is sending out a signal now that really deep down, he doesn\u2019t want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paisley\u2019s statements also took issue with King Charles and other British royals attending the recent Requiem Mass<\/a> for the Duchess of Kent, herself a Catholic.<\/p>\n

\"KingKing Charles III prays with Pope Leo XIV in the Sistine Chapel during a historic meeting at the Vatican on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media<\/p>\n

Doubling down on his views, Paisley posted a statement on social media <\/a>ahead of the Sistine Chapel prayer: \u201cIt is a crying shame that no evangelical Christian MP [member of Parliament], or member of the House of Lords, has spoken out publicly about the king\u2019s blatant compromise of his oath, evidenced in the planned act of corporate worship with the pope.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThe chair in St. Paul\u2019s Basilica, which has the king\u2019s emblem on it, is not an empty ornament but is there for him to use on any occasion he visits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing in this honor Rome\u2019s long-term aim of a complete reversal of the Reformation, Paisley said: \u201cThe deadly beast has been licking the wounds inflicted on it by the Reformation and now sees her way to complete healing, aided and abetted by a king who is not true to his word and by a British government and foreign office, and a British prime minister, who are about as godless as they come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paisley\u2019s father, the late Rev. Ian Paisley \u2014 the fiery Ulster evangelical Protestant and politician \u2014 was virulently anti-Catholic. In 1959 following the visit of the Queen Mother, King Charles\u2019 grandmother, and Princess Margaret, his aunt, with Pope John XXIII in Rome, he accused them of \u201cfornication and adultery with the antichrist.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Upon the death of John XXIII, the senior Paisley proclaimed: \u201cThis Romish man of sin is now in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Story continues below)<\/b><\/p>\n

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In 1988, Ian Paisley was physically ejected from the European Parliament<\/a>\u00a0for bellowing: \u201cI denounce you, antichrist\u201d at Pope John Paul II during his official visit. Pope John Paul II watched calmly as the Ulsterman was removed from the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Afterward Paisley told reporters he had been \u201cassaulted\u201d by Roman Catholic deputies. He added: \u201cThe European Parliament is Roman Catholic dominated. Mary is the Madonna of the Common Market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his similar views of the Catholic faith, Kyle Paisley on the death of Pope Francis offered his sympathy to \u201cdevout Roman Catholics who looked up to him as the head of their Church and the guide of their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

King Charles III has met the last three popes \u2014 most notably meeting Francis shortly before his death in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both traveled to Britain, but meetings with the members of the royal family did not include joint prayers.<\/p>\n

Prince William, the heir to the throne, attended the funeral of Pope Francis, and Prince Edward, brother of the king, was present at Pope Leo\u2019s inauguration Mass in May.<\/p>\n


\n \"Patrick
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Patrick J Passmore lives on the north coast of Ireland. He has worked with St Brigid Media on a range of projects as a consultant and writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Patrick J. Passmore Dublin, Ireland, Oct 23, 2025 \/ 18:04 pm King Charles III has acted contrary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[12341,147023,299,518,1144,41442,170069,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-523777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-catholic-news","9":"tag-ecumenism","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-king-charles-iii","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","14":"tag-sistine-chapel","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115427055385181689","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}