Is the U.S. downgrading its Vatican ties?

U.S. Vatican Ambassador forced to move?

by Sheila Liaugminas

Is the U.S. downgrading its Vatican ties?

Yes, say several US Vatican Ambassadors. More on that shortly.

I first heard of it from Ambassador Ray Flynn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See under the Clinton administration, who was a guest on my radio show Monday, November 18th. He broke the news live on the air during our conversation on the show.

“There’s a new issue that’s going to develop in the next week or so,” he said. “The Obama administration Department of State wants to close my embassy, they want to close the United States’ Embassy to the Holy See, and they want to consolidate it with the Embassy of the Republic of Italy. That would send a very, very bad message. It would diminish the relationship between the United States and the Holy See and to the Catholic Church. One of the things we did when I was there, and we did it very effectively, was work with the state of Israel, we worked with the Church to develop diplomatic relations, which had a very positive impact on what the United States government wanted to do.

Flynn continued, passionately engaged:

“I was involved in the Rwandan genocide, because the Catholic Church had a moral voice, and the U.S. was naturally opposed to the genocide in Rwanda. Same thing with the Bosnia-Herzegovina situation. The Vatican did a very quiet but effective job helping the United States bring peace and justice in places like the Middle East. We never had the kinds of trouble we’re having now, because the Vatican had a role. John Paul II had a very important role, he was respected he was admired. Unfortunately, we don’t have that level of respect anymore, the U.S. government. That’s why we’re seeing the kinds of situations in places like Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Israel. These are countries that were at one time strong allies of the Vatican, strong allies of the United States, and what are they now? They’re divided. We’re now seeing the killing of Christians, the bombing of churches.

“That’s the key role the Vatican plays, with the United States cooperating. And now to have that embassy close? That’s another issue that we should mobilize Catholics on right now. Get on the phone, call your congressman, call your senators, get on the talk shows, make sure your voice is heard. This is a very short-sighted, counter-productive move if they go forward consolidating the U.S. Vatican Embassy with the Republic of Italy, that would be a big mistake.

“A number of us who have served in this position, in a bipartisan way, we are lobbying the president, the Secretary of State and the Congress not to close the U.S. embassy to the Holy See because of its importance to world peace, not only to the United States but to countries throughout the world.

“The Holy See has major credibility throughout the world because in times of crisis and chaos, they don’t bring up a political agenda, they aren’t seeking someone’s land, they aren’t seeking oil, or diamonds or minerals. It’s really about a safe and peaceful world. That’s why they have that kind of credibility, even among the war-torn countries in the Middle East. So that’s why the embassy is so important. It will just send the wrong kind of message that the Holy See is like an annex to the Embassy of Italy in Rome.

“We’re talking about the separation of Church and State here. We don’t want the Catholic Church to be part of the Embassy to Italy. This story hasn’t really broken yet, but it’s very important people be pro-active.”

National Catholic Reporter Vatican expert John Allen broke the story to big media.

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