9th December 2020
Holy See
As British Ambassador to the Holy See I have been privileged to work with some of the 650,000 Catholic women religious who are combating the global issues affecting the world today: from the response to the Covid-19 pandemic to modern slavery, from helping victims of sexual violence in conflict to protecting the planet, women religious […]
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22nd December 2016
Holy See
Pope Francis turned 80 on 17 December. Messages poured in from around the world (70,000 emails) and the Pope celebrated with 8 homeless people. Much has been written about the Pope’s achievements. He is on a mission to change the Church, making it more global, ecumenical, open to dialogue with other faiths, focussed on the […]
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18th November 2016
Holy See
On 19 November the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will gather in the Vatican. This Consistory (from the Latin “con sistore” – to stand together) is traditionally the opportunity for the Pope to gather the views and concerns of the Cardinals from all corners of the world. It will also be the occasion to […]
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26th May 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Baroness Anelay, Foreign Office Minister and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, paid a brief visit to Rome last week. The main focus of her trip was to meet religious men and women from Catholic congregations working in Africa and elsewhere to help the victims of sexual violence in conflict. The […]
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26th February 2016
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
In May this year, the first World Humanitarian Summit will be held in Istanbul. The United Kingdom sees this as a real opportunity to take stock of how humanitarian aid around the world is distributed, and to improve the effectiveness of delivery to ensure that aid reaches those most in need. Humanitarian aid needs to […]
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21st September 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Just over ten years ago, the European Union embassies in Cuba, including the United Kingdom, were involved in a stand-off with the Cuban government in Havana that became immortalised as “the cocktail wars”. Despite the seemingly frivolous impression given of the spat (which concerned the invitation to embassy receptions of dissident Cubans), there were deadly […]
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7th January 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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 […]
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22nd October 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I often tell people that I consider myself accredited, first and foremost, to a global network, the most extensive on the planet. In a world that operates no longer through blocs but networks, that of the Holy See reaches parts that political, diplomatic or ordinary civil society networks simply cannot reach. For a diplomat based […]
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3rd July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The recent visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury – Justin Welby’s second since he and Pope Francis began their respective missions in the same week in March 2013 – placed in the spotlight the relationship between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church across the world. One of the key instruments of that relationship […]
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26th February 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
If anyone doubts the global nature of the Roman Catholic Church, they had only to attend the Consistory on 22 and 23 February, when Pope Francis created 19 new Cardinals from the senior bishops around the world. The 16 ‘working’ Cardinals in Pope Francis’s first list now take their part amongst the 120 or so […]
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