First British woman to Holy See

BRITAIN IS TO 51.N I) A w) MAN to be ambassador to the Holy See for the first time. Maureen MacGlashan will take up her new appointment at the Vatican at the end of May.
The 57-year-old diplomat has a good pedigree for representing Britain in a strong religious environment: her
first foreign appointment between 1964-67 was as Second Secretary in Tel Aviv.
Miss MacGlashan's appointment brings to six the number of female ambassadors to the Holy See. The others are from Uganda, Mali, Singapore, Lenonia and Belize Her Excellency Ursula Barrow from Belize is also High Commissioner to the UK.
Fr Ian Farrell, secretary to Archbishop Luigi Barbarito, the Papal Nuncio to Britain, said that the Archbishop had sent his compliments to the new ambassador, but that the two had not yet met. Ambassadors to the Holy See have the task of representing their countries' interests to the Vatican curia, particularly on international political issues. "There was a lot of contact, for example, in the run up to the Cairo conference last year. Peacekeeping is also high on the list of priorities", explained Fr Farrell.
Miss MacGlashan was educated at Luton High School and Girton College, Cambridge, and went on to represent Britain at the EEC in the mid-1970s, was Counsellor to Bucharest between 1982-86, and then became assistant director at the prestigious Research Centre for International Law at Cambridge University, She succeeds the current ambassador to the Holy See, Andrew Palmer, who is to retire from the diplomatic service.