This year marks the centenary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Panama. To commemorate the event, on 21 May, the Governorate of Vatican City State issued a stamp, produced by the Post and Philately Service.

The stamp will be presented, with the symbolic official cancellation on stamped envelope, on Wednesday afternoon, 21 August, at the end of a eucharistic celebration in Rome’s San Lorenzo in Damaso Basilica, presided by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State.

Sister Raffaella Petrini, General Secretary of the Governorate of Vatican City State, and the outgoing Ambassador of Panama to the Holy See, H.E. Miroslava Rosas Vargas, will attend the presentation. A commemorative volume for the centenary of diplomatic relations will also be offered.

The image of the stamp features two flags and two symbolic images of the two nations: the Cupola of Saint Peter and a landscape that ideally unites the Panama Canal depicting a sunrise on the Pacific Ocean and a sunset on the Atlantic Ocean, that can only be seen in this part of the world.