FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY…

FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY….

Forty years ago today, January 10, 1984. I was with my parents in Oceanside, California on an extended Christmas vacation. In early afternoon, we were driving south to San Diego where a good friend of mine, Bill Wilson, was scheduled to give a speech at San Diego Catholic university. Both my dad and I are news freaks, and we had the radio on when news was interrupted to announce that diplomatic relations had been established between the United States and the Holy See, and that President Ronald Reagan had appointed Bill Wilson as the first American ambassador to the Holy See!  As you might imagine, there was a very audible intake of breath and smiles all around!

National Catholic Register photo

I first met Bill and Betty Wilson in Rome when he was serving as the personal representative of President Ronald Reagan  to the Holy See, named to that post on February 11, 1981. I had interviewed him a few times for the National Catholic Register, whose bureau chief I was at the time. As members of the Republican party, after Bill’s mandates ended, we also attended some events together in California. Los Angeles was home to the Wilsons.

Thus, on January 10, 1984 when he was named ambassador, Bill was no stranger to diplomacy or to the city of Rome and that’s where our paths also crossed many times.

When my parents and I arrived at the university, there was quite a commotion as everyone by then had heard the news and knew that they were taking part in a historic moment for both America and the Catholic Church. I got a big hug from Bill and returned it enthusiastically, and congratulated him on his nomination. I told him, “By the way, Bill, I am here today as a friend not as a member of the media!” He had told us he’d been besieged by phone calls for interviews since early in the morning, California time, when the Vatican and US jointly announced the news. I did, of course, eventually have a number of questions for him.

In 1984 I was not yet working in the Vatican, there was no such thing as a blog, there were no cell phones for photos or to record people so the news was basically mine to recount in some other personal venue, as I eventually did for the Register.

Bill had planned a speech and a topic for the day, but obviously everything had to change with his appointment, and he spoke about the long history of diplomacy between the United States and the Holy See. It was a wonderfully informative session for everyone and you could tell that Bill was very comfortable talking about diplomacy and what his office would be doing in Rome, given that going forward, it would be known as an embassy.

Afterwards, in a brief private moment with me, my mom and dad, Bill said one of the first things that he wanted to do in Rome was to contact the State department and put my name on a list of staffers he wanted to hire ! I was absolutely overjoyed and looked forward to seeing how that would go.

Several months later in Rome, Bill told me that the State department asked the embassy to hire someone local, local meaning Italian. Bill wrote back to State, saying I had the best qualifications possible as I was a Catholic, knew Rome, the Church, the Vatican and people in the Roman Curia and was fluent in several languages. Unfortunately, however, the State department won that one.

And, as they say, the rest is history! I have known every American ambassador assigned to the Holy See, except for Frank Shakespeare, who was our diplomat during a period in which I was living back in the US. My memories of each one are very wonderful and special, and I especially treasure that memory from 40 years ago today!

P.S. Bill Wilson and his wife were among the founding members of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, and that venture began a year before he was named ambassador. So lots of history in his life and mine!

I am not sure which of my many photo albums – the ones with actually paper pictures! – have pictures of the Wilsons and yours truly and simply do not have time to search before I post this column. Most are on top of my library shelves and I have been prohibited from using a ladder given my current back issues.

Those were truly amazing years and history-making leaders!

 

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