A Scotsman in the Holy See

Guest blog by Monsignor Charles Burns OBE, Ecclesiastical Advisor of the British Embassy to the Holy See

There have been Scots here in Rome for many centuries. The Scottish Hospice was founded in 1475 to assist Scottish pilgrims, and the Pontifical Scots College – where the Feast of St Andrew is celebrated every year – was founded in 1600 to train Scotsmen for the priesthood in Scotland. The Stuart court was here in Rome, and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother commissioned the new tomb in the Crypt of St Peter of the last of the royal Stuarts.

Although I have spent much of my life here in Rome, I still consider myself very much a Scotsman. I have never asked for anything in my life, like a soldier, my role has simply been to march, and I was sent here in October 1957 immediately after ordination to the priesthood to do one semester in the Faculty of Church History at the Gregorian University and have been here ever since. I completed my doctorate in Church History and was awarded a senior scholarship from the University of Glasgow to conduct a systematic search of sources of Scottish history in the Vatican Secret Archives. I was the first priest since the Reformation to be employed by a Scottish university.

This commission could have continued were it not for the fact that the Vatican Archives wanted an English speaker appointed to the staff, and from 1962 until 1997 I served in the Archives. At the same time, I taught the students of the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy the history of Papal Diplomacy, and for over a decade now I have been the Ecclesiastical Adviser to the British Embassy to the Holy See.

This has brought me into contact with Members of the Royal Family and other distinguished visitors. In my role as the Ecclesiastical Advisor (a unique role within the British Diplomatic Service), I provide advice on how the organization of the Holy See works with its 2000 years of history behind it. It has changed over the centuries to respond to different challenges, but much remains the same. Past experience always serves in the present, and precedent is important.

Three years ago Pope Benedict XVI named me a Canon of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, which brings with it an obligation to continue to live in Rome. Yet despite all my time here in Rome, I have not weakened my bonds with Scotland. I have remained a priest of the diocese of Paisley, and I am now an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral there. No bad thing to have a Scots voice at the heart of the Vatican!