‘Next Level Obstruction’: Democrats Block Ambassador To Vatican Ahead Of Pope’s Installation

WASHINGTON—Democrat lawmakers are blocking the confirmation of Brian Burch, President Donald Trump’s nomination for Ambassador to the Vatican, ahead of Pope Leo XVI’s installation as pontiff this Sunday.

Ambassadors are typically confirmed in large groups in order to speed up the process, given that there are 194 ambassadorial roles to fill. Yet in recent weeks, there have been a number of “cloture votes” in the Senate on Trump’s nominees, procedural votes requiring three-fifths of the Senate to vote in favor of the nominee.

“Democrats have thrown up an unprecedented level of obstruction for nominees that are usually allowed to compress their time,” a senior White House official told The Daily Wire, arguing that this type of obstruction is an assault “on the president’s officials and the president’s ability to stand up his government.”

“There’s been an unprecedented number of cloture votes, even for noncontroversial nominees, of which Mr. Brian Burch is one of those individuals,” that official explained.

Burch is the president and co-founder of CatholicVote, an organization dedicated to inspiring and mobilizing Catholics toward traditional Catholic teaching. He’s considered well-qualified by the White House and is supported by a wide range of organizations, but his vocal adherence to the Catholic magisterium on issues like life, gender, and marriage are likely to have angered Democrats as well.

President Trump’s pick for Ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, is a PATRIOT. 👏

“My father taught me that America is the greatest country in the world, and to never take for granted our freedom.” pic.twitter.com/q7R8xxOBLr

— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) April 8, 2025

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations advanced his nomination to the full Senate for official confirmation in May, but he has yet to be confirmed. That delay is significant given the recent death of Pope Francis and the subsequent election of Pope Leo XIV.

The hold up on Burch’s confirmation has drawn the ire of Republicans like Eric Schmitt, the senator for Missouri, who slammed such attempts publicly on Wednesday after he went on the Senate floor and asked for unanimous consent for the Senate to approve Burch’s nomination. Democrats stood up and objected, further delaying the process.

“I never thought I’d see a day that resistance would mean holding up the ambassador to the Holy See, to be there for the installation of the pope, but here is where we are, total brokenness from the other side,” Schmitt said scathingly from the Senate floor.

His remarks were an effort to “smoke out the Democrats in their extraordinarily obstructionist and radical approach” to the issue, a senior White House official said. Schmitt was executing a process that normally occurs in private in the Senate, but this time, required more publicity, the official suggested, praising the senator for putting pressure on Democrats.

And at this moment in history, they said, it is critical that the United States have an ambassador to the Holy See.

“We have a new pope, the American government needs to establish new relationships with Vatican City, obviously a critical faith leader for so many billions of people around the world,” the official reflected. “And Democrats, in order to attack the president and make a political point, are impeding the formation of this incredibly important relationship and insulting millions of American Catholics in the bargain. It’s a pretty critical situation.”

In a social media video posted this week, Schmitt argued that “Pope Francis passed away a couple weeks ago,” and that since Pope Leo is the first American pope (“a big deal”) being installed this weekend, “it would be nice to have the Ambassador to the Holy See, Senate-approved, to go to that in time for this weekend.”

“This is a next-level obstruction,” he argued. “Now, we’re going to get through this. We’re going to spend the time to grind these [confirmations] out. But I just think it speaks to how broken these Democrats are…they can’t find their bearings. They have not come to grips with the election loss in November. They’re swinging at every pitch, there’s no doubt about that. And they look foolish.”