Courtney McGrailEXCLUSIVE
Cathal Barry in Rome
The Irish flag will soon fly proudly in the shadow of the Vatican’s St Peter’s Basilica after the acquisition of a new home for the Embassy to the Holy See.
The Irish Catholic understands that the Government has recently agreed a lease in a prestigious building just metres from St Peter’s Square. The agreement means that the Irish flag will soon be flying on the iconic Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard which leads from the city of Rome to the heart of Vatican City.
The new embassy – which is expected to take a few months to renovate – will be housed in the same building as the Embassy of Croatia to the Vatican. It will allow Ambassador Emma Madigan to easily host senior Vatican officials for meetings and ensure that the ambassador is on-hand for important Vatican occasions.
Vatican officials who spoke to The Irish Catholic this week expressed “delight” that the new embassy will be housed in such a good location. They pointed to the fact that the gesture showed a marked improvement in goodwill from the Irish State to the Vatican after the Government’s controversial 2011 decision to downgrade relations with Rome.
The move – which then Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore claimed was to save money – drew sharp criticism from diplomats and officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who privately admitted to being embarrassed by the Government’s reactionary approach. The decision was reversed in January 2014 and Ms Madigan appointed as resident ambassador later that year. Ever since, officials on both sides say, there has been a willingness to draw a line under the past which saw the Vatican criticised for an apparent tardy approach to allegations of clerical abuse and Taoiseach Enda Kenny criticised for a Dáil speech during which he misquoted Pope Benedict XVI.