This Week in Christian History: Southern Baptist Convention Formed, US-Vatican Relations Upheld

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, May 06, 2018

Lawsuit Demanding US End Diplomatic Relations With Vatican Rejected on May 7, 1985

Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican is silhouetted during sunset in Rome, March 11, 2013. | (Photo:Reuters/Paul Hanna)

This week marks the anniversary of when a district court in Pennsylvania rejected a lawsuit that challenged the United States' establishment of diplomatic ties with the Holy See, which heads the Vatican.

Americans United for Separation of Church & State filed a lawsuit against the Reagan administration for their appointing a diplomatic representative to the Vatican, arguing that the president had effectively established official relations with the Roman Catholic Church.

However, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled against Americans United, arguing that the church-state watchdog group lacked standing and that the court itself lacked the right to determine the validity of the diplomatic move.

"I have concluded that the First Amended Complaint does nothing to overcome the plaintiffs' lack of standing or the non-justiciability of the controversy," read the ruling.

"It is enough, for present purposes, to express my firm conclusion that this court is not empowered to pass judgment on the accuracy of the president's characterization of the nature of the entity with which diplomatic relations are established."

Americans United and the other plaintiffs appealed the case to the Third Circuit, only to lose again on the argument that they lacked standing and then the United States Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal.