After over a year of vacancy, the United States has a papal ambassador once again.
Former president of CatholicVote, Brian Burch, handed over his credentials to Pope Leo XIV and was confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See on September 13.
This confirmation came after an eight month Congressional stalemate over Burch's nomination. He was originally nominated by President Donald Trump in December 2024, and was finally confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 2, 2025.
In a social media post, the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See described the meeting as “warm and constructive” with the conversations surrounding topics like protecting religious freedom, the Vatican’s relationship with China, and the AI revolution.
Burch also confirmed through the social media post he and Pope Leo discussed the tragic assassination of U.S. advocate Charlie Kirk and that the American pontiff is praying for the widow of Mr. Kirk and his children.
This meeting happened to take place on the day before Pope Leo's 70th birthday, and the Ambassador brought him a chocolate cake from Chicago as well as hand-written birthday cards.
The new ambassador was accompanied by his wife, their nine children, a daughter-in-law and granddaughter.
