The Vatican's Role in the Reconciliation between the US and Cuba

Abstract

For over fifty years, the United States and Cuba had not maintained direct diplomatic relations. In December 2014, the Presidents of both countries announced that they were prepared to re-establish direct relations and re-open their respective embassies in the capital of each country, which occurred in July 2015. This change in formal relations was the first step in the normalization of relations between the two countries. At the same time it marked the end of a process of reconciliation in which the Vatican had played an important role through its diplomatic system and the direct intervention of high-ranking officers, including Pope Francis himself. These Vatican diplomacy efforts show us the effect of the choice of the first Pope in Latin America (“the Francis effect”) and his forceful introduction of the ideas of encounter and dialogue in diplomacy.