Department: Vatican embassy may re-open within two years

Negotiations to re-open a scaled-down embassy to the Vatican are under way which could see a mission to the Holy See open its doors within the next year or two.

Revealing the details yesterday, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Vatican were keen to keep publicity around the development out of the public domain.

Secretary general David Cooney confirmed that a smaller Vatican embassy may be allowed on the same site as the embassy to Italy in Rome.