The US government had diplomatic consular relations with the papacy and the papal states from 1797 to 1870, when the papal states were lost to the pope with the unification of Italy. After that time there was no official diplomatic relation, even consular, between the US and the Vatican until Ronald Reagan established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican when he appointed William A. Wilson as ambassador in 1984. Of special note is that Brother Francis met privately with Ambassador Wilson for a half hour discussion in his office in Rome in 1985. Wilson, a convert to the Faith, expressed his appreciation to Brother Francis for the doctrinal crusade of Saint Benedict Center and for the Center’s loyalty to the Traditional Latin Mass. Brother left him with a few of the Center’s more doctrinally pointed publications. The visit was arranged by a chance meeting of Brother and the Ambassador’s secretary while the two were on their way by bus to the Vatican. Directly across the street from the American embassy was — you guessed it — the Russian embassy. Wilson did not mind telling Brother, with a sly but pertinent smile, that the entire embassy was in the process of being electronically “re-secured.” The first US ambassador to the Vatican died in early December 2009 at the age of ninety-five.
Catholic News Service: On Jan. 10 twenty-seven years ago, the United States established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican. President Ronald Reagan named William Wilson (see photo) to be the first U.S. ambassador to the Vatican in 1984. To commemorate the anniversary, Ambassador Diaz issued the following statement this morning: Read statement here.
