Obama administration plans to close Vatican embassy in shock move. Citing security concerns.

[User_123]

SWEET! US is citing "security concerns" for move. maybe they know she's ready to burn! this piece of her anyway.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Obama-administration-plans-to-close-Vatican-embassy-in-shock-move--233288751.html?mob-ua=Y

"Following Ireland’s example embassy will be consolidated with embassy to Italy

By: IrishCentral Staff Writers | Published Monday, November 25, 2013, 7:04 AM | Updated Monday, November 25, 2013, 8:23 AM

The United States is planning to close its embassy to the Holy See.

The U.S. State department is planning to close its embassy to the Holy See, citing security concerns without naming a specific threat. Ireland announced its decision to shut its embassy to the Vatican in 2011.

The U.S. embassy, which has been in operation since 1984, will be swallowed up by the larger U.S. embassy to Italy, The Daily Beast reports.

Most countries have two embassies in Italy – one to the country of Italy and another to the Holy See, a sovereign nation within Rome. Some, including the U.S., have a third embassy to the United Nations Organization headquartered in the city.

The U.S. embassy to the Holy See is scheduled to move to the American embassy to Italy in January 2015 and will inhabit a small annex with a separate entrance.

Conservative Catholics in the U.S. oppose the move. James Nicholson, a former American ambassador to the Holy See from 2001 to 2005, told Vatican expert John Allen that the move was "a massive downgrade."

Speaking to Allen for the National Catholic Reporter, Nicholson said: "It's turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy."

"The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States," he said, "and to shoehorn [the U.S. delegation] into an office annex inside another embassy is an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican."

Former Bush envoys Francis Rooney and Mary Ann Glendon as well as Raymond Flynn, the first Clinton ambassador, and Thomas Melady, who served the first President Bush, also object to the move.

The Vatican has long insisted that countries with diplomatic missions to both Italy and the Holy See maintain autonomous embassies.

Sources inside the American embassy in Rome have said the embassies will maintain separate functions, reports The Daily Beast. While the U.S. embassy to Italy has a strategic role in American activities in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, its embassy to the Holy See has a distinct role in church affairs.

The action of the embassy to the Holy See follows a similar move by the U.S. embassy to the United Nations Organization, which was moved to the embassy grounds in 2012. Other major countries have also consolidated their embassies, including Israel, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Ireland, which closed its embassy to the Holy See entirely, relies on visiting envoys to maintain diplomatic relations.

The Vatican has not commented on the reports of the American embassy closure, but reports say it is unlikely to protest the relocation."

more:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/24/u-s-pulls-embassy-out-of-the-vatican.html

[sunshine]

Hmm, it's not really a close, it's a move but it could be a precursor for a real close.  Bet nobody know what the vatican embassy actually does anyway... Still it's all a move in the right direction, putting things in place.

[Dustparticle]

We must not forget the Anglo-American power will be a dominat force when Babylon goes.

[Allabord4Jah]

This was just on the Huffington Post/Religion section:

 

U.S. Embassy To Vatican Will Be Moved, Not Closed

 

RNS) The United States will move its Vatican embassy into a new building on the compound of the larger American Embassy to Italy, a shift that has drawn criticism from former U.S. envoys.  Security and cost savings were behind the move, as the State Department estimates it will save $1.4 million a year by moving from the current building.

 

It will not downsize any embassy personnel, a State Department official told reporters Monday (Nov. 25). At the time, the official did not have total budget information of both embassies at hand. The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See has seven U.S. diplomatic personnel, and the U.S. Embassy to Italy has 63 diplomatic personnel.

 

The relocated embassy will be 0.1 miles closer to the Vatican, putting the distance at about 1.9 miles between the two.

Former U.S. Ambassador James Nicholson called the move a “massive downgrade” in U.S.-Vatican ties, turning the Vatican embassy “into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy,” in an interview with the National Catholic Reporter

[LuanaGlobal]

[LeslieDean]

Luana--don't bogart the popcorn please! Lol