Letter from Pope John Paul II to President Jimmy Carter, Signed and Sealed

Father Richard Kunst

I believe this is the first formal communication between Pope John Paul II and the US government.

A letter to a president!!

This, of course, is the first communication which eventually led to the fall of the Iron Curtain. 

Significance of the Letter

This is an historically significant letter from the newly elected Pope John Paul II to President Jimmy Carter acknowledging the pope’s reception of the president’s special envoy, Ambassador Robert Wagner, who served as the president’s representative to the Vatican from November 1978 to January 1981. 

This first actionable correspondence from Pope John Paul II to the American President was to be the first of many communications between the pope and the American heads of state. 

The letter is literally the first volley between the two world powers that would lead to the eventual overthrow of the Iron Curtin.  Though the lion share of that work happened between President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, this letter acted as the initial communication that strengthened the alliances between the two nations that led to the eventual transformation of world politics towards the end of the twentieth century. 

It is difficult to overstate the historical significance of this letter from the future saint and the sitting president.

Full Text of Pope John Paul II’s Letter to President Jimmy Carter
December 14th, 1978

To the Honorable
Jimmy Carter
President of the United States of America

             I have received with such pleasure your special

envoy, Ambassador Robert P Wagner, who brought me the

kind letter with which you presented him to me.

            I deeply appreciate the thoughtfulness contained

In your letter and especially the desire that you

expressed to work together for world peace and the pro-

motion of basic human aspirations for freedom, justice

and dignity.

            During my pontificate I will assuredly keep these

aims in mind.  Your message and my contacts with

Ambassador Wagner give me confidence in fruitful cooperation

between the Holy See and the United States of America in

pursuit of these causes, in which the whole of mankind

has such interest.

        On you, Mr. President, and on all the people

of the United States I cordially invoke the favor and

blessing of almighty God.

From the Vatican, December 14, 1978.

                                    Johannes Paulus II

The inauguration of Jimmy Carter as the 39th president of the United States was held on Thursday, January 20, 1977.