Scottish Catholic Observer

Scotland’s archbishops are in Rome this evening as a special Mass is celebrated in St Peter’s Outside the Walls to mark the 100th anniversary of the re-establishment of relations between the United Kingdom and the Holy See.

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow and Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh will be present on Wednesday evening as Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin presides at the celebration in the Roman Basilica.

Diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the UK had been fractured and erratic since the Reformation, but were formally re-established in 1914, amid the outbreak of the First World War, when Catholic Sir Henry Howard was sent to Rome as ‘Envoy Extraordinary.’

One hundred years on, senior members of the British Government will come to Rome to celebrate their ongoing relationship with the Vatican.

Foreign Office Minister of State, Baroness Anelay of St John, is leading the British delegation and will hold talks with Vatican officials on international issues during her visit.

“I am delighted to represent Her Majesty’s Government on in this important anniversary,” she said. “Relations between the United Kingdom and the Holy See have developed enormously since 1914. The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK in 2010 and HM the Queen’s historic meeting with Pope Francis in April this year are the most recent highlights.

“The visit is an important occasion to further strengthen the UK’s engagement with the Holy See on a range of issues of mutual concern, and to consider ways in which our networks might work more closely together, from human trafficking and freedom of religion and belief, to wider human rights issues and international development.”

Ahead of the Mass, Cardinal Parolin stressed the importance of maintaining dialogue and communication in the world today and addressed the possibility of another Papal visit to the UK, saying that for the moment there’s nothing fixed for Britain, though he hopes it may one day be possible to build on the good results of Pope Benedict’s visit.

In an article for L’Osservatore Romano, Nigel Baker, British Ambassador to the Holy See, said that the relationship between the two states have come a long way but ‘the reasons why we restored diplomatic relations then still, in large part, hold good today.’

“Today, as a century ago, we have an embassy to the Holy See because of the extent of the Holy See soft power network, the influence of the Pope, and the global reach and perspective of Papal diplomacy,” Ambassador Baker writes, adding that ‘our diplomatic collaboration continues to get closer, and in that sense we continue to fulfil the mission entrusted to Sir Henry Howard 100 years ago.’