Reflections on my time as an Intern with the Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN.
If you're interested in hearing more about my experience you can check out this podcast episode I recorded with Radio Maria England for their 'Just Life' programme. I share in greater depth about my journey of faith and reflect on what Jesus' call to 'Cast out into the deep' has looked like over the last few years, and what it can mean for each of us today.
Attending high-level emergency Security Council meetings, filing reports headed to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, and delivering panettone to the office of the UN Secretary-General, Mr António Guterres, on the highest floor of the Secretariat building.
Not quite the usual routine of late-night essay-writing, cycling in the rain to lectures, and studying with friends in the Fisher House Library at the Cambridge Chaplaincy, which had characterised my time at University.
From late August until mid-December however, these were exactly some of the tasks I found myself undertaking, as I hopped over the pond to serve as an intern with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
The Mission of the Holy See, led by H.E. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Permanent Observer, is a dynamic team which closely follows the vast majority of meetings, negotiations, and events happening at the UN Headquarters at New York.
While the Holy See chooses to maintain its status as a Permanent Observer, as opposed to a full Member State of the UN, it nevertheless plays an active role through its participation in negotiations, delivery of statements, and bilateral diplomatic relations.
The work of the Mission can broadly be divided into two sections, Human Rights and Development and Peace and Security.
Following an intensive training week at the start of the internship, we expressed our preferences to join one of these teams for the duration of our time at the Mission.
As an intern on the Peace and Security Team, my work largely consisted of covering Security Council meetings and the plenary meetings of the Fourth Committee.
We were expected to be the eyes and ears of the Mission; writing comprehensive and accurate reports of the meetings we attended which were then passed on to the Diplomats and Archbishop, and eventually sent to Rome.
We were asked to pay particular attention to issues of concern for the Holy See – perhaps more obvious in Human Rights and Development debates – which would necessitate further engagement by the Holy See.
In December for example, I covered Security Council Meetings on South Sudan, where the Special Representative expressed his hopes and expectations for Pope Francis’ ‘peace pilgrimage’, undertaken with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at the start of February.
The Agenda Items covered by the Fourth Committee are diverse and range from ‘Decolonisation’ to the ‘Peaceful Uses of Outer Space’.
The Holy See delivered statements on a number of Agenda Items this Committee Season, always guided by principles from Catholic Social Teaching and drawing heavily on papal teachings and encyclicals.
My time serving at the Mission was incredibly valuable and formative. It was humbling to help represent the voice of the Church on this international stage, and to see how the values of the Gospel and of Catholic Social Teaching can shine light on current world debates.
It was inspiring to see how the Mission works so hard to protect the inherent dignity of each person and care for the most marginalised in society, through their determination and persistence in complex negotiations.
Working alongside an international team of interns – in my cycle alone there were interns from Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, the Philippines, Slovakia, and Hungary – reminded me of the universality, and despite what the media might say, the vitality and youthfulness of the Church today.
Each day at the office began with Morning Prayer at 9am, preceded by Mass at 8am, and we would return from the UN to the Mission for lunch around midday, forming a real sense of convivial community, and one rooted in prayer.
A highlight of my time at the Mission was High-Level Week of the 77th General Assembly, when the world’s Heads of State and Government descended upon New York to deliver their annual statements in the General Debate.
From 9am to 9pm all week, the interns took turns to listen to the concerns, hopes, and pleas of the 193 Member States of the UN, and its two Observers, the Holy See and Palestine.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, echoed Pope Francis’ call for world leaders to unite and work together for global peace, to ‘say no to a world divided among conflicting powers; Yes, to a world united among peoples and civilisations that respect each other’.
As my time at the Mission drew to a close, it was easy to leave feeling disheartened and discouraged by the global state of affairs, and the many flaws and inefficacies of the UN system which I had observed.
Yet my months at the Holy See Mission also underscored the need and importance of bringing the light of Christ to the darkest of crises.
As I left New York to return to the leafy suburbs of London, I found that I was also returning with a deep sense of hope.
The Holy See Mission takes three cycles of interns from across the world each year. Further information about the programme and the application process can be found here on the website of the Holy See's Mission:
Comments