Floridian recalls service in Rome
Former Vatican ambassador reconnects with pope during U.S. visit.
Posted: 04.18.08
U.S. Embassy Photo
For Naples resident Francis Rooney, the most memorable time of his two and a half years as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican was the opportunity for him and his family to meet Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
“I had a fairly long discussion with him after my family left the room,” Rooney told the Florida Catholic the week before the pope was scheduled to arrive in Washington for his first pastoral visit to the United States. “It was very rewarding to see how much symmetry there was between the values” of the Holy See and the United States.
For example, during that meeting the pope expressed to the ambassador his appreciation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, especially its protections of religious freedom. “He’s fully aware we’re the country where people go to church,” Rooney said of the pope’s comments at that meeting. He discussed how he hoped those values would be more embraced in other countries where Mass attendance and religious freedom were not as prominent. “We’ll see how it plays out in Europe,” the ambassador says the pope told him.
Rooney left his post as ambassador recently, and has returned to the United States, where he has business interests and homes in Naples and Oklahoma. However, he had the chance to renew his Vatican connection when the pope visited the nation’s capital this week.
He and other former ambassadors were invited to the White House April 16, when the pope met with President George Bush and attended the Mass April 17 at Nationals Park, where the former ambassadors had a designated seating area.
Any U.S. ambassador has two overreaching missions, Rooney said.
The first is technical diplomatic engagement — discovering the symmetry of U.S. positions with the country to which the ambassador is assigned, as well as discovering areas of working together on international issues. The second, broader mission is general representation of the United States. For the ambassador to the Holy See, specifically, this means not just to the Vatican but also in some respects to Italy (which also has its own U.S. ambassador). The ambassador and staff broaden understanding of the United States and promote appreciate for U.S. culture through programs such as Art in Embassies, or inviting sports or entertainment figures. At the Vatican, Rooney spent a lot of time promoting the “fundamental principles of humanity and values of our country that they bring for the world. … We’ve got a real edge we can show the world.”
Rooney asked Bush to replace him as ambassador last fall. He was succeeded by Mary Ann Glendon.
Since his return, he has given several talks in Florida and elsewhere about the U.S. and the Holy See. “I have found a lot of people don’t understand how the Holy See works. People don’t understand the difference between the Holy See (the city state) and the Vatican (the church headquarters).
“I am appreciative of President Bush and the Vatican to have the opportunity.” He noted that living on two continents provided great opportunities as well as challenges for his family. He has a daughter about to enter her junior year in college and a son entering his junior year in law school.
“It’s nice to be back a little closer to family,” he said. “We all benefited greatly. But this is the time to put family first.”