On Friday, February 26, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life hosted a virtual panel discussion entitled “U.S.-Vatican Relations: A Historical Perspective from Reagan to Biden.” Convened by Boisi Center Director and Professor of Theology Fr. Mark Massa, S.J., the discussion featured Associate Professor of History Fr. Charles Gallagher, S.J., Professor of History Fr. Oliver Rafferty, S.J., and Peter Martin, Special Assistant to Boston College President Fr. William Leahy, S.J.
The event began with a discussion about the U.S.-Vatican relationship over the last three decades and whether the relationship is dependent on who occupies the White House and Chair of Saint Peter. Rafferty, a historian of modern Irish and ecclesiastical history, argued that the relationship is managed by professionals on both sides, but admitted that individual personalities are important. As a former member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Martin similarly affirmed the professionalism of the diplomatic corps and noted that the U.S. and Vatican share important values, especially around human rights. Though he did not disagree with his colleagues’ characterizations, Fr. Gallagher, a historian of international relations, also proposed that many misunderstand U.S.-Vatican relations because they forget that the Vatican is a microstate with certain geopolitical interests.
The Boisi Center’s panelists then discussed U.S.-Vatican relations with respect to China. Fr. Rafferty, who recently wrote a faculty column on China for The Torch, asserted that there is “a naive view that there is [any] possibility of expansion of Catholicism in China.” Although Martin noted that the last few presidential administrations have consistently focused on religious freedom issues in China, he argued that the Holy See is not always as willing as the U.S. to take a confrontational approach with China.
Responding to a question about which president or presidents have sensed how to best present the Vatican with issues to which it might be sympathetic, Fr. Gallagher proposed that Richard Nixon has served as a presidential exemplar in U.S.-Vatican diplomacy. Recalling Nixon’s March 1969 trip to Europe, Fr. Gallagher spoke about how Nixon worked with Pope Paul VI to create informal diplomatic relations with the U.S. during the Vietnam War, laying the foundation for Congress to later approve the appointment of a formal ambassador to the Holy See. Fr. Rafferty argued that President Ronald Reagan demonstrated the best approach to working with the Holy See, citing the U.S.-Vatican partnership on countering communism and other geopolitical issues in Latin and South America. In more recent years, Martin implied that President George W. Bush’s attendance at Pope John Paul II’s funeral, along with other former presidents, made a lasting impact on the Vatican and U.S. politics that we would be remiss to forget.
Turning to a question about the most fraught issues for U.S.-Vatican relations, Fr. Rafferty proposed that the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population’s focus on abortion caused a rift between the White House and Holy See. Speaking from personal experience, Martin noted the Vatican’s great concern with the Iraq War and the Wikileaks scandal. Although not as troublesome as the Iraq War, the Wikileaks scandal released many private cables with, for example, Latin American priests who were providing the Vatican with information about dictatorial administrations. In sum, he said, it created “a breach in confidence.”
Toward the conclusion of the event, Fr. Massa asked the panel whether it was better or worse to have a Catholic in the White House. Fr. Rafferty began by proposing President John F. Kennedy’s hyper-sensitivity to being the first Catholic president might no longer be an issue for President Joseph R. Biden Jr. because some of the anti-Catholic prejudices that impacted Kennedy have subsided. An ode to Fr. Massa’s extensive scholarship on anti-Catholicism, Fr. Rafferty noted that some prejudices are still very present in the U.S. and moral issues like abortion might pose a problem for U.S.-Vatican relations. Fr. Gallagher argued that this question is still open for now, but that initial signs are encouraging. He qualified this answer by saying, however, that we should carefully consider how the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops manages its relationship with Biden.
Other topics during the event included the Trump-Francis relationship, the location of the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican, the Holy See’s archives, and the roles that former Ambassador Callista Gingrich and her husband, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, had in the U.S.-Vatican relationship.
Featured image courtesy of Smooth_O via Wikimedia Commons.
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