U.S. must embrace Holy See: Column

Francis Rooney | USATODAY

The past few years have seen cordial but cooling relations between the United States and the Vatican. Since President Obama took office, he has visited the Vatican just once, and the administration has demonstrated little more than a perfunctory interest in the Holy See's diplomatic role in the world. This is a lost opportunity at a critical time for America. U.S. foreign policy has much to gain from its relationship with the Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church. No institution on earth has both the international stature and the global reach of the Holy See — the "soft power" of moral influence and authority to promote religious freedom, human liberties, and related values that Americans and our allies uphold worldwide.

President Reagan established full diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1984 because, among other reasons, he realized that he could have no better partner than Pope John Paul II in the fight against communism -- and he was right. The administration of George W. Bush continued to expand these relations, even in difficult times while engaged in a conflict in Iraq of which the Holy See had strongly and vocally disapproved. Before President Obama's recent appointment of Ken Hackett as the next U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, there was growing speculation that the administration was considering completely eliminating the diplomatic mission, or reducing it to an appendage of the Embassy in Rome. While the Obama administration has been in conflict with the Catholic Church on a range of issues from abortion to contraception, it is clearly in America's national interests to strengthen diplomatic ties with the Holy See to advance our interests around the world.

The United States and the Holy See remain two of the most significant institutions in world history, one a beacon of democracy and progress, the other a sanctum of faith and allegiance to timeless principles. Despite these differences between the first modern democracy and the longest surviving Western monarchy, both were founded on the idea that "human persons" possess inalienable natural rights granted by God. This had been a revolutionary concept when the Catholic Church embraced it 2,000 years ago, and was equally revolutionary when the Declaration of Independence stated it 1,800 years later.

The Church is one of the leading advocates and providers for the poor in the world, fights against the scourge of human trafficking, and advances the cause of human dignity and rights more than any other organization in the world. The Holy See also plays a significant role in pursuing diplomatic solutions to international predicaments. In 2007, for example, the Holy See helped secure the release of several British sailors who had been picked up by the Iranian navy. Its long-standing bilateral relations with Iran and the lack of such relations by the British and other western governments created an opportunity for successful intervention.

And more recently, the Holy See issued its diplomatic note concerning the civil war in Syria, calling for a "concept of citizenship" in which everyone is a citizen with equal dignity. It is urging the commissions which are working on a possible future constitution and laws to ensure that Christians and representatives of all other minorities be involved. This immediately helped place a spotlight on the plight of Christians and the ongoing exodus of all non-Muslims from most Middle East countries for the last 30 years. The power and influence of the Holy See is often underestimated. A benevolent monarchy tucked into a corner of a modern democracy, the Holy See is at once a universally recognized sovereign representing more than a billion people (one-seventh of the world's population) -- and the civil government of the smallest nation-state on earth. It has no military and only a negligible economy, but it has greater reach and influence than most nations. It's not simply the number or variety of people that the Holy See represents that gives it relevance; it's also the moral influence of the Church, which is still considerable despite secularization and scandals.

The Holy See advocates powerfully for morality in the lives of both Catholics and non-Catholics, and in both individuals and nations. One may disagree with some of the Church's positions and yet still recognize the value -- the real and practical value -- of its insistence that "right" should precede "might" in world affairs. At its core, the Catholic Church is a powerful and unique source of non-coercive "soft power" on the world stage -- it moves people to do the right thing by appealing to ideals and shared values, rather than to fear and brute force. America's foreign policy is much more likely to succeed with the support of the Holy See.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently gave a nod to this soft power in his Washington Post op-ed when he decried the "framework that has emphasized hard power and the use of brute force." One can speculate on the motivations and intentions of such an unlikely source, but at least there is an admission of the importance of diplomatic alternatives which are based on persuasive fundamental principles.

No two sovereigns are more naturally aligned than the United States and the Holy See in the pursuit of diplomacy founded on the core moral principles of the inalienable rights of man, his essential God-granted human dignity, and the right of all to religious freedom. This is rightly called the "first freedom" because our other freedoms seldom flourish in its absence.

Francis Rooney served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See under George W. Bush from 2005 to 2008, and is author of the new book, The Global Vatican.

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