Obama Closing US Embassy in the Vatican - Says it's 'unsafe'

DISRAELI
Anything that threatens one building would also threaten the other, so perhaps "safety" is a less than honest way of saying "cheaper".

THAT would be understandable. Having to embassies close to each other so they want to conserve money. IF that were true, then it would be understandable. (you realize I say this as Obama has just traveled to the West coast to engage in fundraising activities ... again ... on the taxpayers dime. He probably spent more going to the West coast to do that the it would cost to keep that embassy open for while longer ... I can't prove it .. but I'd bet it's true).

Why the hell do we have an embassy in the Vatican in the first place?

reply to post by FlyersFan

Having a diplomatic US presence in the Vatican puts the whole Vatican at risk, so he is correct in stating that it is unsafe.

Remove the risk (about 5kms) and the Vatican becomes safe again.

Similar to when an employee is given the option to "resign" rather than be "terminated".

Satanic shenanigans - and I'm not talking about the Vatican either.

Mon1k3r
Why the hell do we have an embassy in the Vatican in the first place?

Because it's a country with it's own leadership and own Secretary of State and it's own
Embassy staff.

Tsu322
I just found this article on the BBC that not even the Pope wants to stay at the Vatican anymore.

Pope Francis has called for power in the Catholic Church to be devolved away from the Vatican, in the first major work he has written in the role. In the document, he says he is open to suggestions to changes in the power of the papacy. He also warns that rising global economic inequality is bound to explode in conflict.

www.bbc.co.uk...

This also makes me think that "they" know something that we dont. Maybe he knows what's about to go down and he's trying to lay out a plan to make sure the church as a whole doesn't fall to dismay when/if the Vatican get's destroyed. It looks a lot like giving the power to the body parts after the head is taken away. This bothers me. It makes me think that something very bad is on the horizon.

Sublimecraft
Having a diplomatic US presence in the Vatican puts the whole Vatican at risk, so he is correct in stating that it is unsafe.

THAT is an interesting thought. You think that it's unsafe for the Vatican to have a US Embassy there? I didn't think of it in the reverse. That could be. Maybe the Vatican is okay with this because they want the US embassy out ?? That might make a lot of sense. The Vatican is notoriously Euro-Centric/Anti-America.

FlyersFan

buster2010
Why does America need a embassy to a church? Without religion the Vatican wouldn't exist so why should we be doing anything diplomatically?

The Vatican is a country. And it's not 'unsafe'.
Vatican City Information

The Vatican is the representative of a church.

Hmmmm....so Obama met the previous Pope, but as yet has not met Francis.....hmmmmmm.....may be, just maybe, Francis has told Obama to 'get the hell off his land' and given him the opportunity to say he is withdrawing the embassy? OR, Francis just ain't playing ball with Obama, he's a different kind of Pope.

I dunno.....this feels more like a vatican 'request' to me rather than an American choice.
Just my 2p worth
Rainbows
Jane

buster2010
The Vatican is the representative of a church.

The Vatican meets all 8 criteria to be labeled a country.
All About Geography
It has it's own embassy staff. Many (most?) countries in the world have Vatican embassies.

FlyersFan

deessell
I think this is very big news!

I think this feeds the thought that many have in regards to Obama .... everything he does downplays Christianity while at the same time everything he does protects and advances Islam. This is just one more piece of evidence to that thought. And closing the Vatican embassy is a pretty BIG thing!

big thing?...not to me...I didn't know the US had an embassy on Vatican property...the article does say that they are moving it to the their central embassy of Italy...tell me, why does America need an embassy on Vatican grounds?, I'm glad they are closing it, saves money.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Entirely tongue in cheek, and not wanting to sound flippant but I will. Vatican City cannot be a European Country as it has never entered the Eurovision Song Contest...... neither though has Liechtenstein, but they are too busy manufacturing false teeth.

If they wanted to make an inaugural entry though, I am sure Ireland would lend them out Johnny Logan on loan.

It is also significant the difference a two letter word makes to a statement. The title is "Obama Closing US Embassy In The Vatican.." Where as in fact this is inaccurate. The Obama "administration" as you quite rightly say, is closing the US Embassy TO the Vatican. It does not sit inside the boundaries of VC.

FlyersFan

buster2010
The Vatican is the representative of a church.

The Vatican meets all 8 criteria to be labeled a country.
All About Geography
It has it's own embassy staff. Many (most?) countries in the world have Vatican embassies.

gees, so what?...by the way, it DOESN'T meet the 8 requirements to be labeled a country...some of those "requirements" are met by the "country" of Italy itself. we have enough religion in our government already. I don't want any of my taxes going to the catholic church....and without even doing research, I'll bet the US was paying something to the church for that embassy

FlyersFan

The Vatican is notoriously Anti-America.

Indeed, which makes it "unsafe".

jimmyx
I don't want any of my taxes going to the catholic church....

It doesn't.

and without even doing research, I'll bet the US was paying something to the church for that embassy

The US Owns the Property.

The Embassy of the United States of America to the Holy See (or Embassy Vatican for short) is the American diplomatic mission to the Holy See (a term referring to the central government and universal reach of the Roman Catholic Church). The embassy is located on Aventine Hill in the Villa Domiziana in Rome, Italy, which was built as a private residence in 1953. In 1994 the United States government acquired the property as the new chancery for the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.

jimmyx
we have enough religion in our government already.

Having an embassy to the Holy See in no way interjects religion into the US government.
Neither does having an embassy to Israel .. or to Saudi Arabia .. or to Ireland .. or to any
other country that has a heavily religious influence or that has laws run by religious rules.

I'm all for secular rule of law for the USA. If I thought having an embassy to the Holy See violated that ... I'd be the first one screaming bloody murder about it.

Mufcutcakeyumyum
reply to post by MrSpad

 

I agree, how big would the place have to be in order to conduct its affairs?
On the flipside, how big a building does the Vatican equivalent person (Apostolic Nunciature?) have to be?

Answer: Very big..... now I think the images of the building are under some reproduction guidelines of the image, so take a look, address is 3339 Massachusetts Ave in Washington. Looks a big old house for a cardinal to live in.

en.wikipedia.org...

The diplomatic relationship between the two parties is 30 years old in January 2014, guess they will have to rent out a village hall for the celebrations if the official building is closed down.

The Vatican Embassy to the US is used for multiple things. It is also the Vaticans representative to the Organization of American States and is also the administrative center of the Catholic Church in the United States. So it has many functions. The US "Embassy" does not have much to do and acts more as a tourist information booth for the Vatican. I do not even know why they did not make it a part of the Italian Embassy to begin with. It would be one thing if it was in the Vatican but, since it is just in Rome why bother having two seperate places.

FYI The US Embassy to the Vatican is not on Vatican grounds. It is in a villa in Rome.

reply to post by buster2010


It's not an embassy to a "church". The Vatican (Holy See) is its own sovereign nation. So even though the head of the Catholic Church resides there, the Vatican itself is not a church.

See www.cia.gov... for evidence.

The tiny country of the vatican
has some of the best security in the world.
they have Swiss mercenaries with machine guns.

I think the new pope has don some thing they dont like.