15th July 2015
On his recent visit to Latin America, Pope Francis reminded us of the need for international solidarity and a universal vision. It is not always easy for national governments to meet such aspirations in full. After all, they are in the final analysis – especially if they are democratically elected – accountable to their own […]
10th July 2015
The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See Pope Francis is currently in Latin America, visiting Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. There is a particular interest for me, as I spent over three years in Bolivia as Deputy Head of Mission, which left me with many […]
1st July 2015
This is a networked world. And yet there are few genuinely global networks out there. By that I mean networks that have a capacity to operate globally, co-ordinated centrally but operating in capillary fashion, horizontally in a radial pattern as well as vertically in a hub and spoke model. One of the reasons why we […]
24th June 2015
Confrontation across ideological fault lines. Division in Europe. Pessimism about international affairs. You might think I am referring to today’s international situation. But in fact I would like you to cast your mind back forty years to 1975 and the Cold War. Under the cloud of mutually assured destruction, Europe and the wider world needed […]
16th June 2015
On 15 June we celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. It is extraordinary how a document agreed in 1215 between a medieval English king and his leading subjects continues to resonate down the ages, wherever people believe in the rule of law. I recently wrote an article trying to set Magna Carta in its proper […]
12th June 2015
It was Holy See day this week at Expo 2015 in Milan. Expo is like a world fair, with this year 145 countries represented including 53 national pavilions (the Holy See has one) based around the theme “Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life”. Reminding us that “man does not live by bread alone”, the Holy […]
5th June 2015
One of the benefits of being accredited to the Holy See is the possibility of listening and speaking to people from across the global Catholic Church who visit Rome to do business at the Vatican. This is useful for the UK, because I can often glean information not available elsewhere in our foreign policy network, […]
28th May 2015
Amongst the various reforms underway at the Vatican, one that has generated considerable interest is the reform of Holy See communications. There had for many years been criticism of a lack of coordination and high levels of duplication in Holy See communications. The last decade had also seen a number of avoidable communications errors that […]
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21st May 2015
This week I attended an important conference at the Pontifical Santa Croce University, on “The New Climate Economy. How Economic Growth and Sustainability Can Go Hand in Hand”. It was jointly organised by the Dutch Embassy to the Holy See and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and brought together leading political figures, business […]
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14th May 2015
Amongst the Vasari frescoes In the Sala Regia in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican is a series to make ecumenists blanche. It depicts the planning and implementation of the St Bartholomew’s Eve Massacre – the massacre in Paris on 23-24 August 1572, ordered by the King of France, of thousands of French Huguenot Protestants. […]