Nunciature of the Holy See in Washington DC

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The flag of Vatican City and the Holy See flies above the Nunciature to the United States.

The Nunciature to the United States of America is an ecclesiastical office of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States with the rank of ambassador. The nuncio is consecrated archbishop and after his period of service as Nuncio has ended historically has been elevated to the rank of Cardinal in consistory.

The Apostolic Nunciature is an administrative center of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Communications from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the various dioceses in the United States to the Holy See pass through the nunciature. The nuncio also fills a central role in the appointment of bishops to episcopal offices in the country, and is the official responsible for making the announcement of an episcopal appointment.

The physical building which houses the offices of the apostolic nuncio and his staff is also called the Nunciature to the United States of America. Its official name is the Embassy of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See. Located at 3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008, it is considered an informal diocese of its own.^{[citation needed]}

1 History
2 Staff
3 Apostolic Delegate
4 Apostolic Pro-Nuncio
5 Apostolic Nuncio
6 See also

[edit] History

The nunciature was established as the Delegation to the United States of America on January 24, 1893 with offices in the City of Washington in the District of Columbia led by an apostolic delegate. It was the result of an effort by the Holy See to establish communication between the Pope and the President of the United States. Formal relations however were not established until January 10, 1984 when the delegation was elevated to the rank of nunciature. The establishment of an embassy in the City of Washington was the result of an increased friendship of Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan.

[edit] Staff

The staff of the nunciature includes the permanent and alternative observer to the Organization of American States.

[edit] Apostolic Delegate

The Holy See did not have official ties with the United States and its mission was headed by an apostolic delegate without the rank of ambassador. Apostolic delegates, unlike apostolic nuncios, exercise only ecclesiastical functions of oversight over the Catholic hierarchy of the coutry to which they were sent, while apostolic nuncios have the added responsibility of also acting as ambassadors of the Holy See before the government of the country where they serve. There were instances in which two official delegates served at the same time.

Francesco Cardinal Satolli, January 14, 1893 to 1896
Sebastiano Cardinal Martinelli, OSA, April 18, 1896 to 1902
Diomede Angelo Raffaele Gennaro Cardinal Falconio, OFM, September 30, 1902 to 1911
Giovanni Vincenzo Cardinal Bonzano, February 2, 1912 to 1922
Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi, December 14, 1922 to March 16, 1933
Amleto Giovanni Cardinal Cicognani, March 17, 1933 to November 14, 1959
Egidio Cardinal Vagnozzi, December 16, 1958 to January 13, 1968
Luigi Cardinal Raimondi, June 30, 1967 to March 21, 1973
Archbishop Jean Jadot, May 23, 1973 to June 27, 1980
Pio Cardinal Laghi, December 10, 1980 to January 9, 1984

[edit] Apostolic Pro-Nuncio

The first Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Pio Laghi, presented his credentials as Vatican (technically Holy See) ambassador to the United States in 1984 after the Holy See and the United States established full diplomatic relations. His title was pro-nuncio because at the time the Vatican gave the title of nuncio only to its ambassadors who enjoyed the rank of dean of the diplomatic corps to a country.

Pio Cardinal Laghi, March 26, 1984 to April 6, 1990
Agostino Cardinal Cacciavillan, June 13, 1990 to November 5, 1998

[edit] Apostolic Nuncio

In 1990 and 1991 the Vatican quietly began to use the title of nuncio instead of pro-nuncio for its ambassadors who were not the deans of a country's ambassadorial corps, but it retained the pro-nuncio title for all those already appointed. In 1998, when President Bill Clinton accepted the credentials of Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo Higuera as the third Vatican ambassador to the United States, he held the title of Apostolic Nuncio. Since 1993 the official Vatican yearbook, the Annuario Pontificio, has included an asterisk behind the title of those nuncios "che (per ora) non sono Decani del Corpo Diplomatico" -- "who (for now) are not deans of the diplomatic corps."