The king said he was “deeply saddened” to hear of the pope's death, while JD Vance, the pontiff’s final international visitor, said he was “happy” to see the “obviously very ill” Francis on Easter Sunday.

As tributes and messages of love roll in for Pope Francis, King Charles is seeing a silver lining in the death of the leader of the Catholic Church. After Pope Francis died at the age of 88 on Monday,

King Charles previously met with Pope Francis in 2019, during the canonization ceremony of Cardinal Newman at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. (Cardinal Newman was the first English saint since the Forty Martyrs were canonized in 1970, and the first British saint since St. John Ogilvie in 1976.)