Democratic senators block confirmation of the US ambassador to the Vatican

This week, the United States Senate Democrats blocked the confirmation of Brian Burch, nominated by President Donald Trump as the United States ambassador to the Holy See, stopping the nomination process before the installation mass of Pope Leo XIV, which will be held this Sunday.

Butch, co -founder of the Catholicvote Political Defense Group, must now obtain 60 votes in the Senate, that is, a majority of three fifths, after the Democratic senators invoke filibusterism about more than 50 low profile nominations. Filibusterism is a tactic of the Senate that allows senators to delay or block voting extending the debate, which requires 60 votes to invoke the closure and proceed to a final vote.

“I never thought I would see the day that the Democrats would be willing to block the nominee for ambassador to the Holy See simply to gain political points with their radicals of the extreme left, but it seems that they are still looking to play background,” said the Republican senator of Missouri, Eric Schmitt, Catholic, in a statement to CNA, an agency in English of Ewtn News.

“Now, with only two days for the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV, the United States will not have a diplomatic presence in the Vatican, to the detriment of US Catholics throughout the country,” he continued. “The political games of the Democrats are shameful, and the Senate should immediately vote the Brian Burch nomination to ensure that the US has a diplomatic presence in the Vatican while the new Roman curia is installed.”

Schmitt criticized his democratic colleagues In the Senate For blocking the nomination, which had previously advanced with bipartisan support in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, describing the blockade of Burch’s confirmation by Democrats as “obstructionist.”

Later, in a live broadcast on the Social Network Platform X on Tuesday night, Schmitt said the Senate is working to confirm Trump’s less known candidates while waiting for the approval of his reconciliation bill. However, in an unprecedented turn, Democratic senators completely blocked a series of nominations, invoking filibusterism to require 60 votes for confirmation.

The measure will force the Senate to vote and approve each nomination individually. It is not clear if the bureau nomination will take vote before Sunday.

“Normally, the idea that a closing motion should be presented, that is, 60 votes for everything that is done, is very unusual,” said Schmitt during the transmission, added: “In fact, this obstructionism was not seen since the Ford Administration.”

Illustrating the unprecedented nature of invoking filibusterism for nominations, Schmitt said the Senate confirmed to the judge of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas with a simple majority of 52 votes. “Filibusterism was not used for everything,” he said, and “certainly not for ambassador positions that are not controversial, which leave the Foreign Relations Committee.”

Schmitt reflected that the obstruction of the nomination of Burch “speaks of how disorganized the Democrats are,” he added: “I simply did not think it would develop as it happened today in the Senate, that would lead them to the point of saying: ‘We will not allow the ambassador to the Vatican to be in the inauguration of the Pope’, but there.”

CNA contacted the Senate Minority leader’s office, Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, to obtain comments, but did not receive a response to the time of publication.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.