Nomination, announced days before Trump meets Pope Francis in Rome, marks the promotion of the wife of one of the president’s most vociferous defenders

‘Jury still out’ on Callista Gingrich pick as US ambassador to the Holy See

Donald Trump announced on Friday his intent to nominate Callista Gingrich, a choir singer and film producer married to former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich, to serve as ambassador to the Holy See.

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The nomination, announced days before Trump is set to meet Pope Francis in Rome, marks the promotion of the wife of one of the president’s most vociferous defenders, who this week claimed the US was in the midst of a one-sided cultural civil war that could “destroy America as we know it”.

Gingrich, a lifelong Catholic who is seen as having played a pivotal role in her husband’s 2009 conversion, will play an important role as a mediator and line of communication between Washington and the Holy See. She could help to mend a relationship that became strained when Francis questioned Trump’s Christian faith during the 2016 campaign.

Trump and Francis are set to meet on Wednesday in Rome, where they will exchange pleasantries and gifts and – most observers note – will likely focus on a handful of issues, such as the fight against the persecution of Christians, on which they hold common views.

In the White House announcement of the nomination, which will require Senate confirmation, Gingrich was noted for her work as chief executive of Gingrich Productions, a media and consulting company that promotes her husband’s views, which have recently included a glowing review of Ivanka Trump’s new book about working mothers. Her productions have included a documentary about Pope John Paul II, and she co-wrote a book called Rediscovering God in America.

Gingrich’s views on issues close to Pope Francis’s heart – from the threat of global warming to the need to accept migrants – are not known. But her husband has expressed shifting views on climate change and recently called Europe’s acceptance of migrants an “invitation to disaster”. He has also condemned so-called “sanctuary city” laws that protect undocumented migrants in the US.

Joseph Tobin, a newly promoted cardinal in Newark, New Jersey, who is seen as being close to Francis, has called the Trump administration’s threat to such laws “the opposite of what it means to be an American”.

A person close to the Vatican said the “jury was still out” on the choice, and that a determination would only be made based on Gingrich’s work. The person noted that high-level and experienced diplomats were often chosen for such senior posts, but added that Gingrich’s presumably strong personal relationship with Trump could prove to be more important than her relative inexperience, and could strengthen ties between the Trump White House and the Holy See.



The person said the Vatican believed it was the prerogative of every country to choose their own ambassador, and that Gingrich’s nomination would not be blocked. The remark suggested that Gingrich’s controversial past – she began a relationship with Newt Gingrich while he was married to his second wife – would not prove a hinderance to her nomination, even though adultery is considered a grave sin in the Catholic faith.

In 2015, the Vatican did, in effect, block the nomination of an openly gay nominee to serve as France’s ambassador to the Holy See, Laurent Stéfanini. France revoked the nomination after months of foot-dragging by the Vatican.

The former speaker’s third wife first came to national prominence in 1995, when Vanity Fair magazine named a young congressional aide named Callista as a “frequent breakfast companion” of the Republican star and said the relationship was putting Newt Gingrich’s second marriage at risk.

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More details about the relationship emerged during Newt Gingrich’s divorce proceedings, including that Callista had been involved in a romantic relationship with the married Gingrich for years, even as the then-speaker of the House pursued Bill Clinton for lying under oath about his own extramarital affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.

In sworn testimony, Callista acknowledged that their intimate relationship dated back six years – a period in which he was married – but said he had never sent her flowers.



Tax returns released in 2012 in connection to Newt Gingrich’s unsuccessful run for president showed that Callista earned almost $200,000 in connection to her work for Gingrich Productions. The tax filings showed that the couple made about $3.2m from various family-owned and affiliated businesses.

The 2010 return also showed that the Gingrich Foundation, which Callista runs, had donated about $120,000 that year, including $30,000 to Callista’s alma mater, Luther College, and $20,000 to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, where she sings in the choir.