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 Holy See |  United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Apostolic Nunciature to theCourt of St James's | British Embassy to the Holy See |
| Envoy | |
| Apostolic NuncioClaudio Gugerotti | Ambassador Chris Trott |
Holy See–United Kingdom relations areforeign relations between theHoly See and theUnited Kingdom.
The Holy See maintains anApostolic nunciature inLondon, and the United Kingdom has anEmbassy in theVatican City. The currentNuncio in London isMiguel Maury Buendía, and the British Ambassador is Chris Trott.
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In circa 595,Pope Gregory I sent a mission now known as theGregorian Mission to theKingdom of Kent.Augustine became the firstArchbishop of Canterbury in circa 597. During theMiddle Ages and until theProtestant Reformation in the 16th century, theKingdom of England and theKingdom of Scotland wereCatholic kingdoms with diplomatic relations with thePapal States.
In 1209,Pope Innocent III put the Kingdom of England underinterdict amidst rising disputes withJohn, King of England, after he refused to acceptStephen Langton, the papal candidate forArchbishop of Canterbury. The dispute was resolved in 1213 when John conceded power to the Pope by becoming his vassal and agreed to pay feudal taxes to the Catholic Church.
In 1479,Edward IV of England appointedJohn Sherwood as the first Resident Ambassador in the Papal States.
Diplomatic relations were broken in 1536, following the establishment of theAnglican Church byHenry VIII. Diplomatic relations were re-established in 1553 underMary I of England, who appointedSir Edward Carne as her Ambassador. During the reign ofElizabeth I diplomatic relations were broken again due to thepapal bullRegnans in Excelsis in 1570. Official relations with the Papal States were then prohibited by law. The two countries nevertheless had occasional contacts.
In 1621, the English court despatched George Gage to the Papal court in order to obtain permission forCharles I of England to marry the Spanish infanta, a marriage that in the event did not take place. But when Charles I married a French Catholic princess namedHenrietta Maria, he obtained the blessing ofPope Gregory XV, who used the opportunity to despatchGregorio Panzani to England as his envoy. Panzani was followed as papal envoy by the Scottish FranciscanGeorge Conn.
In 1686, KingJames VII of Scotland and II of England despatched as envoy to the Papal Statesthe Earl of Castlemaine and received as papal envoy CountFernando D'Adda. Relations were broken again following theGlorious Revolution in 1688. The Papal States recognisedJames Francis Edward Stuart as James VIII and III until his death in 1766, but not his sonCharles, which gave subtle recognition to the reigningHouse of Hanover. This helped start the reform of the anti-Catholic penal laws, achieved in part by theQuebec Act 1774 and thePapists Act 1778. SirJohn Coxe Hippisley's brief mission to Rome to explore the possibility of restoring relations failed in 1779–1780.
Unofficial relations were formed again during theFrench Revolution, as both the British and the Papal courts were interested in coordinating policies against the spread of the revolution across Europe. In 1792, the British court despatched SirJohn Coxe Hippisley to Rome as envoy, a position he held until 1795. The papal court despatched MonsignorCharles Erskine to London as envoy, a position he held until 1801. Both countries found themselves at various times enemies of France during this period and therefore had a degree of commonality of interests, not least because of thedechristianisation of France during the French Revolution and the French establishment of theRoman Republic of 1798–99.
TheUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came into existence in 1801 with theunion of the Kingdom of Ireland to Great Britain, which had been formed by theunion of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707. With theAnglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, all of Ireland became an independent dominion. Northern Ireland exercised its right under that treaty to separate from the remainder of Ireland and maintain the union with Great Britain, which created the current state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Holy See is the pre-eminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church and recognised in international law as a sovereign entity with which diplomatic relations can be maintained.[1]Pastor Bonus, anapostolic constitution, defines the Vatican's diplomatic relations with states as the Holy See.[2]
Due to the continuity of the Holy See from early times, it is possible to see that the various parts of the United Kingdom had relations with the Holy See prior to their incorporation within the Union (and in Ireland's case, following it - seeHoly See – Ireland relations).
Following theCatholic Emancipation Act 1829, legal obstacles to relations with the Papal States were removed, but the British government still refrained from accrediting an envoy to Rome, though British envoys to some Italian city states were also charged with conducting negotiations with the Papal Court. During the Irish tenants'-rightsPlan of Campaign in the 1880s, the Papacy condemned the activities in the encyclical "Saepe Nos" (1888), even though most of the tenants were Catholics.[3]
The United Kingdom did not re-establish relations with the Holy See until December 1914, following the outbreak of theFirst World War, as the British government was apprehensive about possible growing German and Austrian influence over Vatican policies. The first envoy selected wasHenry Howard, a British Catholic, who was followed by the 7thCount de Salis. In order to maintain that this diplomatic mission was temporary in nature, it was titled "Special Mission to the Vatican". Only in 1923 was the mission's title changed to "His Majesty's Legation to the Holy See".
During theSecond World War when Italy was at war with Britain, the British mission and those other allied countries were located in a pilgrim hostel attached to the Convent of Santa Marta within theVatican City. Until the liberation of Rome in 1944, the British EnvoySir D'Arcy Osborne could not leave the Vatican without special Italian permission.[4]
In May 1949,Princess Margaret visitedPope Pius XII in the Vatican City. It was the first visit of a British Royal to the Holy See after hundreds of years.[5]
Theproblem of Northern Ireland has been a major issue in British-Vatican relations, and during the 1970s the Holy See expressed its hopes for a speedy and just solution on the issue. On 1 June 1974,Pope Paul VI called on all armed factions to take part in peace talks:[6]
We earnestly beg that all violence should cease, from whatever side it may come, for it is contrary to the law of God and to a Christian and civilized way of life; that, in response to the common Christian conscience and the voice of reason, a climate of mutual trust and dialogue be reestablished in justice and charity; that the real and deep-seated causes of social unrest – which are not to be reduced to differences of a religious nature – be identified and eliminated.
The Holy See also supported the British efforts at bringing to an end to racial segregation in Rhodesia (present dayZimbabwe)[7] and commendedQueen Elizabeth II for her activities for peace among nations, and for peace between Catholics and Anglicans.[8]
Full relations were recognised in 1982 whenPope John Paul II visited the UK. This led to the first full exchange of ambassadors between the UK and the Holy See that year.[citation needed]
On 9 September 2011, AmbassadorNigel Marcus Baker presented his credentials toPope Benedict XVI. In his speech, the British Ambassador presented three main goals of Vatican-UK relations, namely facing existential threats such as climate change and nuclear proliferation, promoting interfaith dialogue to achieve peace and working to reduce world poverty.[9]
The UK Embassy to the Holy See is co-located with theUK Embassy to the Republic of Italy at Via XX Settembre in Rome, following the 2006 closure of the rented building that had served as the UK's Embassy to the Holy See. Some in the Vatican protested the co-location of the UK's embassies, complaining that senior officials of the Holy See should not be required to visit the UK embassy to Italy, a country with which the Holy See has an entirely different and at times fractious relationship.[10]
The Holy See's Nunciature to Great Britain is the diplomatic post of the Holy See whose representative is called theApostolic Nuncio to Great Britain with the rank of an ambassador. The office of the nunciature is located at 54 Parkside,Wimbledon Village, London.
Queen Elizabeth II first visited the Vatican during the pontificate ofPope Pius XII, before her own accession. Her second visit to the Vatican was a private visit (during a state visit to the Italian Republic) on 5 May 1962 when she was received byPope John XXIII. She made twoState Visits during the pontificate of John Paul II in 1980 and 2000.
Charles, Prince of Wales andCamilla, Duchess of Cornwall metPope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on 27 April 2009. Prince Charles and his second wife were granted a private audience with the pontiff. It was Charles's first audience at the Vatican since his divorce from the lateDiana, Princess of Wales.[11]
Pope Benedict XVI was the first Pope to makean official visit to the United Kingdom on 16 September 2010, which was accorded the status of a state visit. In a break with normal arrangements for state visits he arrived inEdinburgh rather thanLondon and was granted an audience of Queen Elizabeth II at her official residence in Scotland, the Palace ofHolyrood House. On the evening of the same day he celebrated the second Papal Mass ever held in Scotland atBellahouston Park inGlasgow, with over 250,000 Scottish Catholics in attendance.[12] The first Papal Mass in Scotland was celebrated by his predecessorPope John Paul II atBellahouston Park,Glasgow, during his pastoral visit in 1982.[13]
Queen Elizabeth II andPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, while visiting Italian PresidentGiorgio Napolitano in Rome, had an informal visit withPope Francis on 3 April 2014. It was her seventh encounter with a pope and the fifth different pope she met.[14]
King Charles III andQueen Camilla, during their state visit to Italy, had a private meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on 9 April 2025. The couple were due to make a state visit to the Holy See at the same time, but this was postponed due to the pontiff'sfailing health.[15]
King Charles III and Queen Camilla made a state visit to the Holy See in late October 2025, where they joinedPope Leo XIV in celebrating the2025 Jubilee Year.[16]
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