An appearance at the Vatican is often used by supporters to signal—sometimes subtly but other times more ostentatiously—papal support for an individual or a cause, but the reality is far more complex.
“The Vatican is such a big institution, it's like the White House,” Miguel Díaz, a former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, told America. During his tenure, he co-sponsored conferences with Vatican offices. “People have to be very careful when claiming they spoke there, because the pope didn't necessarily invite them. Usually invitations come from a particular institution or a particular office within the Vatican.”
The Vatican is both a campus and a country, so stating that one spoke there can be akin to being on a panel at Boston University or giving a workshop in Canada.
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