The Pope has named a veteran Vatican diplomat as the new US ambassador to handle relations with Trump

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday appointed a veteran Vatican diplomat as his new ambassador to the United States to manage one of the Holy See’s most important bilateral relations, which have come under pressure with the Trump administration’s war on Iran and attacks on foreigners.

Italian Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, 68, is currently the Holy See’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He replaces French-born Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who is retiring as apostolic secretary in Washington at the age of 80.

Caccia served as the Holy See’s ambassador to Lebanon and the Philippines before being posted to the UN in 2019. Ordained a priest in Milan in 1983, Caccia later worked as an “inspector” in the Vatican’s secretariat of state, an important administrative position in the most important office of the Holy See.

You get a complex and important dose in both US churches and parts of the country.

Pierre’s tenure as ambassador was marked by clear signs of disagreement between the leadership of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, which tends to skew conservative, and the ongoing priorities of Pope Francis’ pontificate.

Relations with the US and its church are important to the Holy See, not least because US Catholics are the most generous contributors to the Holy See fund.

Leo, the first US-born pope in history, is well aware of the dynamics, having served as Francis’s go-to man for the papacy for two years before his 2025 election. Leo emphasized the message of peace and unity in the church.

Trump’s first administration clashed with Francis especially in migrationand that tension has continued into Leo’s pontificate and Trump’s second term. Leo has repeatedly insisted that the Trump administration respect the human dignity of immigrants, while acknowledging their right to their own borders.

Recently, Leo expressed “deep concern” about the US-Israel war in Iran and urged both sides to “stop the violence before it descends into an irreparable abyss.”

Commenting last Sunday, Leo called for a resumption of diplomacy. Weapons, he said, sow only “destruction, pain and death.”

In a major foreign policy speech earlier this year, Leo reiterated his opposition to the use of US military force, apparently referring to Washington’s invasion of Venezuela and threats to take over Greenland. He criticized the way nations use force to assert their dominance over the world and “totally destroy” the international peace and legal order that followed World War II.

The Holy See has a tradition of political neutrality, although Leo has spoken strongly against secularism money to help people with Israeli military action in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The current president of the American conference, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, welcomed Caccia’s nomination and offered the American administration “our warm welcome and prayerful support.”