An open letter to King Charles III - on his planned visit with the Pope of Rome - from Pastor Pooyan Mehrshahi, Pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church, Cheltenham, and Chairman of Parsa Trust, a Persian Reformed ministry
Your Majesty,
With respect and earnest goodwill, I write as a Protestant churchman to urge that the proposed act of praying and worshipping publicly with the Bishop of Rome in the Sistine Chapel should not proceed. This is no question of courtesy or neighbour-love, which Christians gladly extend to all; it is a question of public religious act and constitutional duty.
As Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Your Majesty swore at the Coronation to “maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law” and to “maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established” (Coronation Oath, 6 May 2023).
To join in a service that symbolically affirms shared worship with the Roman See obscures those very “doctrine [and] worship” settlements which the English Reformation recovered at great cost.
The Church of England’s Articles of Religion speak plainly: “The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England” (Article XXXVII). This was not penned in anger or bitterness, but to protect conscience and gospel truth from a foreign spiritual supremacy that Scripture does not warrant.
Bishop J. C. Ryle, the first Bishop of Liverpool, a pastor of catholic charity and English common sense, set down a wise rule for all such proposals of reunion or joint worship: “When Rome has repealed the decrees of Trent… recanted her false and unscriptural doctrines… renounced image-worship, Mary-worship, and transubstantiation—then, and not till then, will it be time to talk of reunion with her”. Till then, he said, “there is a gulf between us which cannot be honestly bridged”. This was no call to bitterness, but to candour about doctrines still affirmed by Rome.
Please remember that certain doctrines of the Roman Church (the Mass as propitiatory sacrifice; the Marian cultus; papal supremacy) remain contrary to the sufficiency of Christ and the supremacy of Scripture.
Your Majesty’s reign has already shown a desire to be a peacemaker. Yet true peace is never bought by blurring revealed truth. A state visit may fittingly include private meetings and civil courtesies; but a public, shared act of prayer in that place most associated with papal jurisdiction carries a meaning, which the world will read, as ecclesiastical concord. It will be cited, not as neighbour-love, but as theological agreement. In that sense it would directly contradict both the Coronation Oath and the Church of England’s own formularies.
Therefore, with loyalty to the Crown and love for the souls of all, I humbly beseech Your Majesty: keep your Coronation word in the sight of God and your people; show charity to all without compromising the truth you promised to maintain; and choose a form of engagement that honours both your office and the gospel entrusted to the nation at the Reformation.
“Them that honour Me I will honour,” saith the Lord (1 Samuel 2v30).
Your faithful and prayerful subject,
Pastor Pooyan Mehrshahi
This piece was originally published on Pooyan Mehrshahi's blog, which can be read here.
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