The secretary of a Markethill Orange Lodge has written to King Charles III’s Principal Private Secretary in “criticism” of His Majesty’s decision to pray with Pope Leo XIV last month.
On behalf of Lattery Purple Heroes LOL 222, the letter expressed the Lodge’s deep dissatisfaction with the King for having prayed publicly with the Catholic Church’s figurehead in the Sistine Chapel on October 23.
It reads in full: “After much deliberation and with the greatest of regret, we as a private Orange Lodge, part of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland and loyal to the Crown, find ourselves in the position of having to write in sad criticism in regards to the joint prayer service of His Majesty King Charles the Third and Robert Francis Prevost, current Pope Leo and Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.
“His Majesty took a Coronation Oath to be Defender of the Protestant Faith. There was a time when an Englishman’s word was his bond but sadly we have seen that oath watered down, first in his appeasement of Islam and now with bending the knee to the head of a church whose heretical priests ‘absolved the sins’ of those who murdered members of our Institution, our friends and family.
“Our society is one already at odds with the notion of monarchy of which it and His Majesty hold a privileged position. Sadly, the United Kingdom, whose strong Protestant Faith witnessed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, once a beacon to the world has become a country the world no longer respects. We cannot understand why his Majesty wishes to alienate further those still loyal to the Crown as he seeks to be a defender of all faiths and not promote the one true Faith.
“Jesus Christ is the Way, Truth and the Light. A true defender of the Faith should not be embarrassed about saying that, a weak King might.
“We will pray that the King of Kings will not only continue to bless the monarchy but will particularly pray that God will indeed save the King, from himself.”
Lattery Purple Heroes’ follows on the back of a letter already written by the Orange Order Grand Masters of Ireland, England and Scotland to the palace on the subject.
Their letter also called for the King to be reminded of his Coronation Oath to “maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law”.
