American Jewish Committee’s Rome office engages in advocacy with government officials, civil society leaders, journalists, and policy analysts, strengthening relations with an important ally of Israel and the U.S. Through our work with the Vatican, we advance interreligious relations and cultivate a dialogue of trust and cooperation around our common commitment to countering antisemitism and all forms of bigotry.
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Italy, one of Israel’s most steadfast friends in Europe, is a key geopolitical mediator for relations between the U.S. and the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The Vatican, through the Pope's leadership, inspires the minds and souls of the world’s 1.28 billion Catholics.
Our office in Rome maintains daily contacts with Italian government officials in the various ministries, in Parliament, with Italian and international media, with representatives of the Jewish community, and with the ambassadors of foreign embassies based in Rome. We speak frequently with the heads of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Italy and with the cardinals and bishops who head the Vatican departments. We participate in the leadership of the Italian branch of Religions for Peace and the Rome Jewish-Christian Friendship Association, both of which Lisa Palmieri-Billig, our representative in Italy and liaison to the Holy See, helped found. When AJC leadership delegations visit Rome, our office arranges private papal audiences and top-level government meetings.
Reinforcing AJC’s advocacy work, we publish articles and op-eds regularly in English and Italian in the online Vatican Insider supplement to La Stampa and in L’Opinione, among other publications.
AJC played a key role in Nostra Aetate and the transformation of Catholic-Jewish relations.
