The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See
After the busy Christmas period in the Vatican, January has often been a slightly quieter time. However, under Pope Francis this is not looking likely, as the diary is already filling up fast.
On 12th January there will be the traditional Address to the Diplomatic Corps, which has been used in the past to set out the Holy See’s foreign policy thoughts and priorities. For us, it is a valuable opportunity to get an overview of what is on the Pontiff’s mind for the forthcoming year. That same evening he sets off for his first trip of the year, firstly to Sri Lanka, which will have just held elections and where he will visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary at Madhu to pray for victims of the civil war, as well as his programme in Colombo. From then it is on to the Philippines, where the organisers are expecting crowds in the millions (when Pope John Paul II visited in 1995, the crowd for the Mass was estimated at about 5 million). This trip will be Pope Francis’ second to Asia in five months, a sign of the growing importance of that part of the globe for the Catholic Church.
Then in February there will be a number of key meetings, including the latest meeting of the advisory council of Cardinals (the “C9”) who are advising on reform of the Curia (the Holy See civil service), and of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (now with fifteen members, including another British member – Peter Saunders, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood). There will also be the Consistory for the new 20 Cardinals, who were nominated on 4 January. These new Cardinals, mostly from outside Europe, and from some countries which have never previously had a cardinal, reflect Pope Francis’ view of the universality of the Catholic Church.
There are also trips planned for the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, as well as probably to Latin America and short trips to Europe. This is on top of the on-going reform process within the Curia, and the Synod on the Family in October, and the myriad of other meetings and announcements which now attract global attention. Pope Francis has a reputation for being unpredictable and spontaneous – the only thing that I can predict for 2015 is that it will not be boring!
Happy New Year to you all, and all of us at the Embassy wish you a peaceful and prosperous 2015