IRELAND
Irish Central
Sean Dunne @SeanDunneNYC January 23,2014
Plans to reopen the Irish embassy to the Holy See have been on the table for months and have now been given the green light.
The November 2011 decision to close the embassy was largely seen as a snub to the Catholic Church in the wake of a series of damning reports into the church’s mishandling of clerical abuse.
The ever increasing popularity of Pope Francis is thought to have triggered the sudden change of mind. The Holy See in Rome is one of five new embassies to be set up. The other new embassies will be in Bangkok (Thailand), Jakarta (Indonesia), Zagreb (Croatia) and Nairobi (Kenya).
The renewed presence in the Vatican has been described by Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs as “scaled-back.” The office will be a one-person embassy focused on international development.
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