LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Obama administration is announcing that late next year the State Department will close the U.S. Embassy in Vatican City, citing security concerns.  The Daily caller was told in an email from the Department of State, "The Embassy will be moved to the U.S. government compound that currently houses U.S. Embassy Rome and the U.S. Mission to UN Agencies in Rome.  At that point, the U.S. government compound in Rome will house three distinct diplomatic missions with three independently accredited ambassadors working in three separate chanceries.  Our Embassy to the Holy See will continue to operate as an independent mission, and our diplomatic presence will remain one of the largest missions accredited to the Holy See."

This will close a mission that has operated at its current location since 1994.  Former ambassadors to the Holy See are blasting the move. Former Boston Mayor and ambassador, Ray Flynn told the Daily Catholic Reporter, "It's not just those who bomb churches and kill Catholics in the Middle East who are our antagonists, but it's also those who restrict our religious freedoms and want to close down our embassy to the Holy See."

Former ambassadors James Nicholson, Francis Rooney, Mary Ann Glendon and Thomas Melady, also criticized the move. Nicholson told the Daily Catholic Reporter, the move makes "this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy." Catholic League President, Bill Donohue said to the Daily Caller, "You could make a principled argument that for security or economic reasons the embassy needs to be moved, but that assumes the person making the argument has principles. This administration certainly wasn't concerned about the safety of its embassy in Benghazi. And as for the economic argument, this is the most fiscally reckless administration in American history. It's risible to think this administration is concerned about our safety."