Pope Leo XIV has appointed a seasoned Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, as the new ambassador to the United States.
This move comes as the Holy See seeks to navigate a crucial bilateral relationship, which has faced challenges under the Trump administration, particularly concerning its stance on Iran and immigration policies.
Archbishop Caccia, 68, currently serves as the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations in New York. He takes over from French-born Cardinal Christophe Pierre, 80, who is retiring from his role as apostolic nuncio in Washington.
Before his UN posting in 2019, Caccia held ambassadorial positions in Lebanon and the Philippines.
Ordained a priest in Milan in 1983, he also served as an "assessor" within the Vatican secretariat of state, a significant administrative role.
He inherits a complicated and consequential dossier on both the U.S. church and state fronts.
Pierre’s tenure as ambassador was notable for clear signs of friction between the leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which tends to skew conservative, and the more progressive priorities of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
The relationship with the U.S. and its church is crucial for the Holy See, not least because U.S. Catholics are the most generous donors to the Holy See’s coffers.
Leo, history’s first U.S.-born pope, is well aware of the dynamic, having served as Francis’ point man on bishop nominations for two years before his 2025 election. Leo has emphasized a message of pacification and unity in the church.
The first Trump administration clashed with Francis especially on migration, and that tension has continued in Leo’s pontificate and the second Trump term. Leo has repeatedly insisted that the Trump administration respect the human dignity of migrants, while acknowledging its right to its borders.
More recently, Leo has expressed “profound concern” about the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and urged both sides to “stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”
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In comments last Sunday, Leo called for the resumption of diplomacy. Weapons, he said, only sow “destruction, pain and death.”
In a major foreign policy speech earlier this year, Leo also made clear he opposed the U.S. aggressive use of military power, in an apparent reference to Washington's incursion in Venezuela and threats to take Greenland. He denounced how nations were using force to assert their dominion worldwide and “completely undermine” peace and the post-World War II international legal order.
The Holy See has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality, though Leo has spoken out strongly against the humanitarian toll of Israel’s military action in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The current president of the U.S. conference, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, welcomed Caccia’s appointment and offered the U.S. hierarchy’s “warmest welcome and our prayerful support.”
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