“At present, we have very good relations with the Vatican and no problems,” Deiss said in a report posted Wednesday by Vatican Radio.
“We are represented in the Vatican by an ambassador on special mission, and the Federal Council is planning to change this situation soon, accrediting an extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to the Vatican,” he said.
John Paul II’s visit to Switzerland this weekend might be “the occasion to make it public,” Deiss added.
The Vatican has had diplomatic relations with Switzerland since 1920. Out of respect for the other religious confessions, the country did not send a diplomatic representative to Rome until 1991. Since then, it has had an “ambassador on special mission” with headquarters in Berne.
