His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Chris Trott, has said that relations between the Vatican and the UK are as strong as they have been since the first British Ambassador was sent to the Holy See in 1982.
Speaking in a Catholic Union webinar on Thursday 13 July, the Ambassador said that the Vatican was “hugely impressed” by the centrality of Christianity in the Queen’s funeral and in King Charles’s Coronation.
This was seen in Pope Francis gifting a relief of the True Cross for use in the Coronation service in Westminster Abbey, where the Papal delegation attended for the first time since the Reformation.
The Ambassador said that the Embassy to the Holy See was unlike other embassies in that it performed no consular duties and was not concerned with trade and investment relations, but did have a very important political function to perform.
He said there were many matters on which the Holy See and UK had mutual interests and could work together – from climate change and biodiversity to peace building in countries around the world, including Burma, Cameroon, South Sudan, Mozambique, Colombia.
On Ukraine, the Ambassador said it had taken countries in the West a while to understand how the Vatican deals with conflicts and neutrality. But he spoke about how Pope Francis went to see the Russian Ambassador to the Holy See in person to urge his country to pursue peace.
On British influence in the Vatican, the Ambassador highlighted the summit of religious leaders the Pope convened as part of COP26 as an example of shared interests. He also highlighted the number of British people in senior roles in the Vatican, including a number of lay women.
For information on future Catholic Union events, check our Events Calendar.