Translation of Charles Bewley's address to Pope Pius XI on the occasion of the presentation of his credentials as Irish Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to the Holy See¹
(Copy)

Holy Father, I have the great honour to present to Your Holiness the Letters of Credence by which His Majesty the King, acting on the advice given for that purpose by the Government of the Irish Free State, accredits me as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Your Holiness.

My Government have entrusted me the very agreeable task of expressing to Your Holiness their sincere congratulations on the establishment of the Vatican State and their most earnest prayer that this great act of reconciliation may prove to be the beginning of a new era of lasting peace amongst all the subjects of the immense Kingdom of the Faithful whose destinies God has committed to Your august hands.

My Government are especially gratified that the re-opening of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Ireland should coincide with the celebrations in Ireland of the Centenary of Catholic Emancipation and realise that the deep significance of this happy coincidence is fully present to the mind of Your Holiness. For is there any nation in the world whose history can show greater devotion to the cause of Christianity than ours, or is there any nation whose whole history has been so determined in all its phases by its attachment to the Catholic Faith and to the Holy See. Your Holiness has not forgotten that long list of Irish soldiers of Christ who went out from our island in the early middle ages to complete the work of evangelising Europe. We rejoice that Saint Columbanus of Bobbio, one of the greatest amongst them, has a particular place in the affections of Your Holiness and of his faithful children in Northern Italy. And it is fitting that I should remind Your Holiness on this solemn occasion of the vast expansion during the last century of the Irish race through the English speaking countries of the world and the predominant part which it has taken in spreading the Catholic Faith in the great territories of the United States of America and of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

It is almost three hundred years since your illustrious predecessor Innocent X sent Rinucinni to Ireland as Nuncio. Today I feel great joy and pride to be the instrument through which the official relations then established are being renewed and I give to Your Holiness my earnest assurance that as representative of Ireland I will devote myself wholeheartedly to maintain those official relations in the same spirit of sincere and affectionate loyalty which since the fifth century has characterized the relations between our people and the See of Peter.