Leo XIV and the Role of the Pope’s Ambassadors

For the Jubilee of Nuncios, Leo XIV gave his papal representatives a ring engraved with the words, Sub umbra Petri—under the shadow of Peter—and, in a very dense speech, stressed to his ambassadors that they are called to be “the gaze of Peter” in the countries and for the peoples to which they are posted.

Above all, Leo highlighted the importance of their work.

“The role of nuncios is irreplaceable,” he said.

These are words that put an end to a debate that began during the years of the Second Vatican Council and never died down. When, during the years of the Council, there was also discussion of a disembodied and more spiritual Church, the idea of abolishing the role of the papal nuncio was also raised. “We must renounce the signs of power,” it was said, “and therefore we should also renounce our diplomatic network.”

It was, of course, an undergraduate common room hypothesis, but it was also part of a debate that fed on ideologies and sought to limit the Church’s influence in public space. And yet the two Popes who began and completed the Second Vatican Council were also two great diplomats: John XXIII had been in Turkey, Bulgaria, and Paris as the Pope’s envoy, Paul VI had worked as a substitute for the Secretariat of State under another great diplomatic Pope, Pius XII, and knew well the meaning and importance of papal diplomacy.

John Paul II, the Pope who came from far away, effectively closed the debate. He, who could have had his reservations about how papal diplomacy had acted in the countries behind the Iron Curtain – the much-discussed Ostpolitik – never thought of changing the diplomacy of the Holy See. Indeed, he wanted Cardinal Casaroli, the architect of Ostpolitik, by his side as the first Secretary of State while integrating the diplomacy of the Pope with various pastoral and symbolic gestures, such as the days of prayer for peace in Assisi.

With Benedict XVI, the role of diplomats perhaps appeared secondary, but that appearance—if it so appeared at all—was deceiving. Benedict XVI called a non-diplomat, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to head the Secretariat of State, mainly because he wanted a faithful and trustworthy person at his side. And he disappointed the entire clique of diplomats who, under John Paul II – and especially in the last years of his papacy – had gained importance and influence. Many of the attacks on the pontificate of Benedict XVI came from the leaders of the old diplomatic school. But there was also a new generation of Vatican diplomats who worked on the concepts dear to Benedict XVI and John Paul II. At the time, people began to speak of the “diplomacy of truth,” while diplomatic work was based more on the concepts and themes of rights than on diplomacy for its own sake.

In this context, for example, the letter to the Catholics of China remains, to this day, a milestone in understanding the current relations between China and the Holy See. However, in this context, the renewed Islamic-Christian dialogue was also born with the letter “A common word between you and us” by 143 Islamic intellectuals, which arose from what seemed to be a significant diplomatic disaster: the lecture by Benedict XVI in Regensburg.

The election of Pope Francis came in the context of a shock: the renunciation of Benedict XVI.

Pope Francis, from the outset, leaned on the old class of diplomats who had felt marginalized by Benedict XVI. In his first speeches, he also praised “the old man of the Curia.” However, he was looking not at the present generation of Vatican diplomats but at those of the past.

On the one hand, Pope Francis gave such value to diplomats that he created several cardinals – at the last conclave, there were even two nuncios in office, Cardinal Pierre and Cardinal Zenari. On the other hand Pope Francis often suggested that the current structure of diplomacy is ineffective. In general, Pope Francis made his appeals, drew his lines, and even appointed his envoys, involving the Vatican Secretariat of State little, and intervening above all when there were benefits to be gained, as when the Holy See mediated for the restoration of relations between the Holy See and Cuba.

The fact of having returned to an older generation, however, also brought back into vogue the great debates of the Council. In the early years of Pope Francis, the famous “pact of the catacombs” was also commemorated. On several occasions, rumors surfaced about Pope Francis’s desire to change the nuncios, possibly reviving the idea of appointing lay people as ambassadors of the Pope.

Now, the nuncio is not only the representative of the Pope in a given country. He is also the one who helps the pope in the selection of bishops, and for this reason, he is an archbishop. In cases where he serves as a representative to a multilateral body and bishops are not selected, the nuncio may not be a bishop. This is the case, for example, of the representative of the Holy See to the OSCE or the Council of Europe.

In this case, they were advocating for a layperson to lead the mission. The idea was to introduce to the diplomatic world the same reform that Pope Francis had introduced to the Curia, namely, to separate the priestly order from power.

Pope Francis consistently resisted this possibility in the diplomatic corps, at least, yet he allowed the return of a debate that, in the face of a world situation seemingly indifferent to the Holy See, appeared to have been sidelined if not settled.

Indeed, the first draft of the summary document of the first stage of the synod on “Communion, Mission and Participation” envisaged a form of control by local bishops over nuncios. This idea rightly disappeared from the final text – it would be as if a local bishop controlled a Pope – but it remained as a constant idea, often discussed in the Council of Cardinals, and unexpectedly re-presented by Cardinal Grech to the nuncios during the meeting with them on the occasion of this Jubilee.

With his speech, Leo XIV closed the debate once and for all, not because no Pope can resume it, but because we now find ourselves in a new generation in which the post-conciliar debates are dormant, and people now look to other themes.

The problem of the Church, more than in its structures, is in its testimony. Leo XIV made this clear several times, asking everyone to renew their unity. The choice to give a ring to the nuncios is significant. The Pope calls his representatives to a mission of communion, and it is something that goes beyond mere diplomatic activity. In his speech to the body of ambassadors, he also reiterated the theme of diplomatic truth.

What to expect, then?

The Holy See will speak and speak forcefully in international forums. The era of compromise at all costs may be over, but that does not mean that the season of cultural battles has begun again. It is a new season, with old battles but new methods, and Leo XIV wants to face what’s coming. More to the point: He wants to face it with the help of his representatives.