Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day January 10th, 1984, the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic

relations for the first time in 117 years.

We'll get into some of the details, but the U.S. and the Vatican had ties from

George Washington, the beginning of the country, up until 1867 and then Congress

passed a law banning funding for any formal diplomatic relations with the

Holy See. And then from 1867 all the way to 1984, there were some informal meetings and personal envoys, but it wasn't until this day in 1984 under President

Reagan that a formal ambassador was appointed to the Vatican, then headed up by Pope John Paul II. So here to talk about that moment and

our relations formal and informal with the Vatican is as always Nicole

Hammer of Columbia. Hello, Nicky.

Hello, Jody.

I am your local Catholic correspondent.

Okay, great.

So we have this moment in 1984, but let's actually go back to 1867

because that is the last time there were formal ties.

What happens in 1867 that the United States says we don't want a formal relationship with

the Vatican anymore?

You know, there's not like a distinct thing that happens.

It's just that there's this rising anti-Catholic sentiment,

and this is one of the places that it expresses itself.

And so a lot of this is tied to the influx. the places that it expresses itself.

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