Why is the Holy See so important to our country?

Did you know that Belgium already has an embassy to what was then called the "Papal States" since 1832? Even today our embassy to the Holy See has a surprisingly important role to play within our diplomatic network. Discover why.

Pope Francis is not only the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but also a head of state. The territory of his country is the 44-hectare Vatican City.

States can establish diplomatic relations with Vatican City or even have an embassy there. Currently about 115 countries have embassies there and 190 countries have established diplomatic relations with the mini-State.

These are not only Catholic countries but also countries like Russia and India or Muslim countries like Iran and Oman. This aligns with the Pope's policy of being very open, for instance to the Muslim world and others. Only about 10 countries do not yet have diplomatic relations, including North Korea and China.

Since 1832

Our country also has an embassy to the "Holy See," which is pretty much the central governing body of the Church. As early as 1832, a year after its creation, what was then called the Papal States was even one of the first countries with which Belgium established relations. Gradually, however, Italy reduced the corresponding territory. The current state - covering 44 hectares - was officially decided in 1929 when Pius XI and Mussolini signed a treaty.

Shortly thereafter - in 1932 - our country moved into a new, wonderful embassy building, located about 3 km from Vatican City. Today the embassy is still housed in the same building with its delightful garden and our embassy in Rome - which maintains relations with Italy - regularly uses it for a variety of events.

Joe Bloggs

But what does our embassy to the Holy See actually do? We asked Ambassador Patrick Renault who was active there for four years and is now returning to the Central Administration in Brussels.

"First and foremost, it is about information," explains Renault. "Through its priests and religious people, the Church has an exceptionally vast network that extends almost all over the world. Normally diplomats maintain relations with senior officials, politicians, trade unionists, artists, academics and so on. But they all belong to the same socio-cultural group, i.e. multilingual, university-educated, and represent only 4-5% of the population. But through its religious representatives, the Church is genuinely in touch with what is going on at the grassroots level or how things are going for 'Joe Bloggs'".

"Very often the religious representatives are the only ones left in a crisis situation in an African country, for example. They carry on running the schools and small hospitals and so on. I've been ambassador to Pakistan, for example, and most of the expertise there was found among the priests from the local church. If something was brewing, they would know months in advance. Of course, sometimes they view things through their own lenses, but it is up to the diplomats to filter out that bias."

Caritas

Moreover, you cannot identify the Catholic Church with the Vatican alone, that is merely the centre of Roman Catholic spiritual and temporal authority. "The headquarters for all the major orders are also found here, including the Franciscans, the Dominicans and the Jesuits. All with their own networks and some of which are highly specialised, for instance in Africa."

Catholic NGOs are also very influential. "Caritas, for example, the second largest NGO in the world working with thousands of volunteers, and also in Ukraine, has its headquarters here. It is very difficult to get anything done in Ukraine and yet Caritas manages to evacuate civilians or exchange prisoners. They also focus on the thousands of children kidnapped by Russia. Sant'Egidio is another such charity."

Political trailblazer

Renault also believes it is important to emphasise that the Pope is one of the most famous figures in the world. "Even as a professional, I don't know who the Prime Minister of Indonesia is," he says. "But almost everyone will have heard of the Pope."

Moreover, the Pope is much more than a religious figure; he also takes political positions. "Of course we don't always agree, for example on abortion or euthanasia. But we do agree with 95% of his vision! For example, he formulates firm proposals around the death penalty, human rights or the climate. In reality, he is a genuine trailblazer who is often better received than we are. That's a fact."

Renault further clarified that the embassy has absolutely no religious agenda. "We don't work with the Catholic Church or with the bishops of Belgium, our job is purely political."

Preventing war

As a concrete example of the Church's power to intervene, Renault mentions its numerous mediation attempts. "As an outsider, separate from the two warring parties, the Church can play an important role as a mediator," he explains. "Within the Church, Sant'Egidio is especially adept at this. The Church, for example, is currently very discretely active in the Middle East. In Mozambique, it was instrumental in securing a peace agreement and it was also active in the Central African Republic. Our FPS Foreign Affairs even funded mediation by the Church there."

But the biggest success story in terms of mediation was that the Church was able to prevent a war between Chile and Argentina in the 1970s. "There was a conflict over the demarcation of borders. Chile sought access to the Atlantic Ocean, Argentina to the Pacific Ocean. A few days before a war was about to erupt, both countries requested mediation from the Church, and it was successful! A peace agreement was signed that still exists today."

1,500 Mexicans and 3,500 Filipinos

"During my four years as ambassador to the Holy See, two things in particular surprised me," Renault concludes. "First of all, I was impressed by the number of topics they focus on. On one day, I might deal with the war in Ukraine, then with sexual abuse in Chile, then with the climate in southern Africa, and then end with artificial intelligence."

What he has also noticed is how much the Church is changing culturally. "For the last 16 centuries, the Church has been primarily a European institution in terms of culture, policies and personnel. But that is changing at lightning speed! Today there are perhaps 30 to 40 Belgians working in the Curia and congregations in Rome in addition to 140 Germans and 100 French. But there are also as many as 1,500 Mexicans and 3,500 Filipinos!"

The Church is rapidly changing its appearance. It will become a dynamic Church, but with a traditional, conservative outlook. "It may be a slight exaggeration but there are an estimated 1.2 to 1.3 billion Catholics and 1 million religious representatives worldwide and the majority of them will certainly not accept homosexuality or women as priests. The geopolitical shifts in the world - with the West losing its dominance - are also playing out within the Church. Both in the world and in the Church, we have not yet written suitable rules for the 21st century."