United States-Vatican Diplomatic Relations

The First Pope to Visit with a United States President Was Pope Benedict XV (Shown on Right) Scott 1715 (2019) On January 10, 1984, the United States and Vatican City established full diplomatic relations for the first time in 117 years. Diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See date to the days of President George Washington, when consular relations with the Papal States were established in 1797. These relations remained intact until February 28, 1867, when Congress passed legislation that prohibited any future funding of United States diplomatic missions to the Holy See. This decision was based on mounting anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States, fueled by the conspiracy theory that the Catholic Church was somehow involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From 1867 to 1984, the United States did not have official diplomatic relations with the Holy See, but several presidents designated personal envoys to visit the Holy See to discuss issues of mutual interest. Notable envoys included Postmaster General James Farley, who visited with Pope Pius XI in 1933, and Myron Taylor, who would serve as the presidential envoy to the Vatican from 1939 to 1950. Attempts to formalize the relationship between the two countries floundered during the 1950’s through the 1980’s, despite the efforts of every United States president during that time. The reason most commonly cited for the failure of these efforts was anti-Catholic sentiment rooted in the thought that the Church may unduly influence the policies of the United States (with the Holy See being labeled as a “dangerous, powerful, foreign and undemocratic institution”). However, on January 10, 1984, the United States and the Holy See announced the establishment of formal diplomatic relations. In contrast to previous efforts, there was very little opposition raised in Congress, in the courts, or from other groups. The first visit between a sitting United States President and a Pope occurred between Woodrow Wilson and Pope Benedict XV (shown in the stamp above) on January 4, 1919, at the Vatican Apostolic Palace. Wilson was in Europe participating in the Paris Peace Talks following World War I (during what was also the first visit of a sitting president to Europe). The next visit would take place forty years later, in 1959, when Dwight Eisenhower visited Pope John XXIII at the Vatican. Since that time, every sitting president has visited with the pope, either at the Vatican, in Italy or in the United States. Perhaps the most interesting visit occurred between Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, who met at the Fairbanks, Alaska, International Airport, on May 2, 1984, as Reagan was returning to the United States from China and the Pope was making a stopover on his way to Oceania. To date, there have been 31 visits between Popes and Presidents. References: Wikipedia.com, Holy See-United States Relations Wikipedia.com, List of meetings between the pope and the president of the United States Vatican Philatelic Society website, Stamp Database Search