On Saturday, March 7, Pope Leo XIV announced the appointment of the new apostolic nuncio (ambassador of the Holy See) to the United States. Cardinal Christophe Pierre will be succeeded by Msgr. Gabriele Caccia, who is currently the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York.
This appointment seems logical in terms of Vatican diplomacy, as conducted by the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. Pope Leo XIV has embraced this logic, demonstrating important alignment with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s diplomatic and geopolitical approach. This is certainly true with regard to the United States under the Trump administration, but not only. Monsignor Caccia’s presence in Washington also indirectly indicates continuity in the Holy See’s diplomatic and pastoral actions toward Asia, particularly China.
In the current geopolitical context and given the Trump administration’s approach, appointing a diplomat as Ambassador of the Holy See who is experienced and has a thorough knowledge of American reality seems natural, intelligent, and wise. However, we must not overlook the extensive experience that the new Vatican ambassador, Monsignor Caccia, has accumulated in his role as Permanent Observer to the UN from 2019 to the present.
This experience reveals the approach chosen by the first American pope regarding diplomatic relations with his country of origin and the pastoral vision for the Catholic Church in the United States. Monsignor Caccia’s presence in Washington indicates that the Holy See views its relationship with the United States under Trump not as merely a bilateral relationship between states or the management of affairs between state and church. For the Holy See, the Trump administration’s United States is an international issue that must be framed within a multilateral geopolitical context.
Faced with an irreversible crisis at the UN, the Holy See has chosen to transfer its representative to the Vatican embassy in Washington. The Holy See’s investment in diplomatic dialogue, international relations, and the involvement of multilateral actors in the peaceful resolution of global crises is now being transferred to direct contact with the Trump administration’s policies.
These policies have exposed the long-hidden truth about the UN’s ineffectiveness in the face of profound geopolitical changes in recent decades. Therefore, it is precisely with the Trump administration that one must engage in dialogue to avoid abandoning the world order to the law of the strongest. One must engage in dialogue with those who flaunt their military strength in order to find viable alternatives to war and the unregulated division of the world.
With the appointment of Monsignor Caccia as ambassador to Washington, the Holy See appears to be moving in this direction. The Holy See is guided by three fundamental geopolitical principles: the primacy of multilateral diplomacy; respect for international law, and the reformulation of international law to address the current state of global affairs; working towards a supranational and global institution that builds on the legacy and highest aspirations of the United Nations.
