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CHANGE OF AMBASSADOR TO THE HOLY SEE (15/11/05)

Mr Francis Campbell has been appointed Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Holy See in succession to Mrs Kathryn Colvin CVO who has retired from the Diplomatic Service. Mr Campbell will take up his appointment in December 2005.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full Name: Mr Francis Martin-Xavier Campbell
Date of Birth: 20 April 1970

2005 - Senior Policy Director, Amnesty International
2003 - 2005: 1st Secretary, British Embassy to Italy
2001 - 2003: On secondment to No 10 Downing Street as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
1999 - 2001: On secondment to No 10 Downing Street as Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister
1998 - 1999: European Enlargement Unit, FCO
1997 - 1998: On secondment to the European Commission – appointed to the EC Delegation at the UN in New York for the UK Presidency of the EU
1997: European Enlargement Unit, FCO
1996 - 1997: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (MA)
1994 - 1995: Katholieke University of Leuven, Belgium (MA)
1989 - 1992: Queen's University Belfast, (BA)

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The Foreign Secretary announced in Parliament on 15 December 2004 that the FCO would widen the pool of potential candidates to beyond current Diplomatic Service staff when appointing a new Ambassador to the Holy See.

2. This is the first time we have appointed an Ambassador by open competition, although it is not unusual now for senior civil service positions to be filled by open recruitment.

3. The advertisement inviting applications appeared in national newspapers in July. Over 120 applications were received from individuals with a variety of backgrounds and experience. A short-list for interview was drawn up and interviews took place in September.

4. This recruitment has enabled the FCO to ensure that the new Ambassador has the skills appropriate to the specific professional demands of the role. It is in line with the Government's policy of recruiting people with appropriate skills and experience from all areas of public life.

I have always been very curious as to why I mostly see Catholic related posts on this board? Are there no Protestants on Free Republic? Just curious.

Cardinal welcomes new Ambassador to Holy See

Appointment ‘has broken with the unspoken assumption that the British representative to the Holy See should not be a Catholic’

The Archbishop of Westminster has described the appointment of Francis Campbell as the new British ambassador to the Holy See as “imaginative” and says it puts to an end the notion that the post was reserved to non-Catholics.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor described the young Catholic career diplomat from Northern Ireland as “an experienced diplomat who has worked with the Prime Minister” who was also “familiar with the language and the workings of the Catholic Church”.

When he presents his credentials to Pope Benedict XVI in December, the 35-year-old Campbell will be Britain’s first Catholic ambassador to the Holy See since the Reformation.

Relations between the UK and the Holy See were restored in 1914 after a break of 350 years. An apostolic delegate – nowadays a “papal nuncio” – was appointed in 1938 to represent the Holy See to Great Britain. Full diplomatic relations were restored in 1982 prior to Pope John Paul II’s visit to the UK.

Ever since a Foreign Office memo in 1917 which said Britain’s Vatican representative “should not be filled with an unreasoning awe of the Pope”, the British representative has been a Protestant, with a Catholic as deputy. This continued after 1982, when the post was raised to ambassadorial status.

The Foreign Office made clear recently, however, that there was no bar to a Catholic taking the post.

The spiritual leader of the Roman Catholics of England and Wales welcomed the evidence of this in the new appointment, which he said “has broken with the unspoken assumption that the British representative to the Holy See should not be a Catholic.”

The Holy See is the seat of government of the Catholic Church. Although the state in which it resides, Vatican City, is the world’s smallest, the Holy See is the hub of a global network of a billion people which leading nations regard as vital to world diplomacy.

CARDINAL STATEMENT IN FULL:

“I welcome the appointment of Francis Campbell as Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See. An experienced diplomat who has worked closely with the Prime Minister, Mr Campbell is also familiar with the language and the workings of the Catholic Church. This is an imaginative appointment which has broken with the unspoken assumption that the British representative to the Holy See should not be a Catholic.”

I'd love to have heard the discussion between the Queen and Archbishop Williams about this appointment!

What a great job -- hang out in Rome and the Vatican all the time. He's lucky to have it and he's only 35.

Today, December 1st, marks the martyrdom of St. Edmund Campion, British Jesuit, at Tyburn. This then is good news, A.A. I must ping my British colleague, Campion, on the news.

Cheers!
Francis