The embassies at the Vatican

In the year 1936 34 nations kept ambassadors or ministers or chargés at the Holy See. But the Argentine spent a lot of time enjoying himself in other European capitals. The Belgian lived quietly to qualify for a pension. The Spaniard had been driven out by a tragi-comic siege in the Piazza di Spagna. The Peruvian was hardly ever in Rome and when he was in Rome was hardly ever seen. The Estonian was a pluralist for he was also ambassador in Paris and preferred that city. The minister of Honduras was unpaid. The Latvian had not appeared in Rome for several years and ran the Foreign Ministry in Riga. The ministers of Monaco and San Marino and of the Order of Malta hardly counted. The Nicaraguan was senile, the Panamanian disappeared in 1929 and had not been heard of since. The minister of Salvador lived at Brussels while the Liberian lived in Paris. This list shows that while it is true that 34 nations kept representatives at the Vatican, it was in part a façade.

Diplomatic services need a certain number of well-paid sinecures for their members who are not good enough for important offices and not old enough to go on pension. The extraordinary case is that of the German ambassador Diego von Bergen. No one could suppose, especially after the Nazis came to power, that the post of German Ambassador could be a sinecure.