Relationship dossier
Vatican City
Somalia
Relationship assessment
High-level contact, with the broader scope of bilateral cooperation unclear
Vatican City toward Somalia
+10Pope Francis received Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in 2013, providing a concrete instance of Holy See engagement with Somalia’s government.
Somalia toward Vatican City
+10Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met Pope Francis in 2013, providing a concrete instance of Somalia’s government engaging with the Holy See.
Overall relationship
+10The relationship includes high-level engagement between the Pope and Somalia’s president. Its broader institutional scope and continuity are unclear, limiting evidence of a more extensive bilateral partnership.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
The Holy See and Somalia have had high-level contact, including Pope Francis’s 2013 audience with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. This supports a modest assessment of bilateral engagement, but the scope and continuity of government cooperation are unclear.
Key developments
Pope Francis received Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in an audience at the Vatican.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and continuity of bilateral government cooperation are unclear.
- Details of Somalia’s diplomatic engagement with the Holy See beyond high-level meetings are limited.