Tag: vatican

13th March 2017 Holy See

Stephen Townsend

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy to the Holy See

The Commonwealth and the Holy See

The Commonwealth and the Holy See represent the two largest soft power networks in the world.  The Holy See has over 1.2 billion faithful globally, and a network of Bishops, NGOs and religious congregations which reach deep into the societies of the countries where they live.  The Commonwealth is made up of 52 countries with […]

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28th December 2016 Holy See

Stephen Townsend

Deputy Head of Mission

The Nativity Scene in St Peter’s Square

At Christmas, Nativity scenes make their appearance in churches and homes across the world. In Italy there is a particularly strong tradition of presepio – some churches in Rome have exhibitions of historical and modern designs, and there are some streets on Naples which are full at this time of the year with thousands of […]

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22nd December 2016 Holy See

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by Sally Axworthy

Ambassador to the Holy See

Pope Francis at 80: The Pope’s favourite words

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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14th April 2016

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Shakespeare at the Vatican: family, mercy and a red hat

How could the British embassy to the Holy See contribute to the Shakespeare 400th anniversary this year? There is an extraordinary programme of official events organised under the Shakespeare Lives banner, but the Vatican was not an obvious element. And although the Royal Shakespeare Company had performed Shakespearean excerpts before Pope Paul VI in 1964, the […]

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10th March 2016

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Archbishop Gallagher in the UK

Last week I accompanied the Holy See Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, on a visit to the United Kingdom. He came at the invitation of the British government, so inevitably much of his time was taken up in official meetings with a wide range of government ministers. He visited five different Departments […]

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30th December 2015

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

A Third World War?

Pope Francis has spoken frequently of his belief that the current state of instability in the world, overlain by the global threat of terrorism, is something akin to a “third world war fought piecemeal”. In his message for the World Day of Peace, he noted that, “sadly, war and terrorism, accompanied by kidnapping, ethnic or […]

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23rd November 2015

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Rewarding achievement

Last week, I presided over a small ceremony at my Residence to present, on behalf of The Queen, the British Empire Medal to my colleague at the embassy, Helen Beggs Frigieri. The medal was awarded for services to relations between the United Kingdom and the Holy See. I was very pleased that Holy See officials […]

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25th August 2015

Stephen Townsend

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy to the Holy See

The Holy See and Astronomy

On 25 August 1609, Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope to the Venetian authorities. This invention opened up the skies, and piqued men’s interest in the planets and stars around us and beyond, which in turn has led to modern wonders such as men on the moon, the Hubble space telescope, the Rosetta mission to […]

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17th August 2015

Stephen Townsend

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy to the Holy See

Diplomatic Uniforms at the Holy See

One of the quirks of being posted to the Holy See is that it is one of the few in the world where Ambassador and Deputy Head of Mission regularly have to wear diplomatic uniforms. It comes as a surprise to many that the Foreign Office has a uniform at all – unless they had […]

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1st July 2015

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Global networks

This is a networked world. And yet there are few genuinely global networks out there. By that I mean networks that have a capacity to operate globally, co-ordinated centrally but operating in capillary fashion, horizontally in a radial pattern as well as vertically in a hub and spoke model. One of the reasons why we […]

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