A Vatican spokesman said the decision of the US State Department to move the Vatican embassy to a compound shared with the US Embassy in Italy was well within the Holy See’s requirements for embassies, adding that relations with the United States are far from strained.
Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Canadian priest who works with the Vatican’s press office, was quoted by CNN as saying that the proposed US move satisfies those requirements.
Rosica also praised Ken Hackett, the new US ambassador to the Holy See, telling CNN that “at this critical time in history, he brings eminent credentials to represent the United States to the Vatican.”
He added there is “a very good feeling right now” between the two countries.
Another Vatican official, not authorized to speak on the record about diplomatic relations, told CNN the Holy See understands security concerns are an issue for some countries and this move is “an exception, not the ideal, but not the end of the world.”
The Washington Times, however, described the move in its report as “an egregious slap in the face to the Vatican.”
It’s a “massive downgrade of US-Vatican ties,” said former US Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. “It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, and … [it’s] an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”
Former ambassadors to the Holy See said moving that embassy would diminish the stature of the mission and conservative Catholic activists seized on the issue.
The State Department dismissed complaints that the move was hurting the US relationship with the Vatican, saying that the embassy to the Holy See will be much closer to the Vatican and there will be “no reduction in diplomatic staff. There’s no reduction in ambassadors, there’s no reduction in mission.”
Sources
CNN
Washington Times
Time
Image: Getty Images/CNN