# How do I go about writting to the Pope? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522 "2003-12-29T04:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/1 "2003-12-29T04:00:13Z")
I’d like to send a letter to His Holiness John Paul II. How would I go about this? And also what are my chances of a reply? ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/2 "2003-12-29T04:05:31Z")
A former colleague of mine has a Blessing received from His Holiness, which was sent to them in response to a letter, if that is any indication. I’m sure the Vatican website has a postal address. ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/3 "2003-12-29T04:10:20Z")
My Grandmother wrote him many years ago, unfortunatly she lives in the Czech Republic and I don’t really have any way of asking her. The Vatican’s site has quite a few adresses for the Pope listed I just can’t find “his”. Theres some for Funds of his but they all end up being addressed to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, \ ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/4 "2003-12-29T05:19:53Z")
Try sending it to: > [@](#): > > The Pope > Vatican City I bet it would get there. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/5 "2003-12-29T05:46:02Z")
From [here](http://www.cpats.org/vatican_mailingaddress.cfm) His Holiness, John Paul II PP. 00120 Via del Pellegrino Citta del Vaticano, Italy OR His Holiness Pope John Paul II Apostolic Palace VATICAN CITY ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/6 "2003-12-29T05:52:33Z")
The above address on Pellegrino looks right IIRC. My SIL wrote to him requesting a blessing of her marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/7 "2003-12-29T05:54:05Z")
Contrary to the above, I found [this](http://www.dwc.org/questions/Diocese/Pope.htm): > [@](#): > > His Holiness John Paul II > Apostolic Palace > 00120 Vatican City State, EUROPE The site states that you should **not** write “Italy” anywhere on your envelope, because doing so will subject it to the haphazard handling of the Italian mail service. Instead, send it straight to Vatican City, which has its own mail service. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/8 "2003-12-29T05:57:23Z")
[His Holiness John Paul II Apostolic Palace 00120 Vatican City State, EUROPE](http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00AcW6) (Do not address it to Italy as the Vatican is a separate country and mail from the U.S. will be directed to the Vatican, separately.) (I would _not_ expect that the pope will personally read the letter (unless you can throw in a line about greetings from his cousin Staš in Hamtramck). He probably receives a few thousand letters a day from various parts of the world and certainly has a staff (not merely a single secretary) to filter most of it.) ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/9 "2003-12-29T06:19:17Z")
> [@](#): > > (I would not expect that the pope will personally read the letter (unless you can throw in a line about greetings from his cousin Staš in Hamtramck). He probably receives a few thousand letters a day from various parts of the world and certainly has a staff (not merely a single secretary) to filter most of it.) Yeah, thats what I figured, my Grandmother got a reply directly from him (at least thats what the signature says). If a staff member were to reply, how would it be signed. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-go-about-writting-to-the-pope/221522/10 "2003-12-29T06:44:07Z")
> [@](#): > > at least thats what the signature says.) If a staff member were to reply, how would it be signed. I’ve worked with several payroll systems that provided “signatures” on checks for pay runs of more than a thousand employees–and that was back in the day of chain-driven impact printers. With laser printers and colored ink, the signature could easily be simply a “logo” in storage. (Or, your grandmother’s letter might have tugged at the hearts of the various staff readers who sent it up and garnered a personal reply from His Holiness–although that is not how I would bet.)