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<img height='400' src='http://vaticanstamps.org//cms/images/Vatican/IMG_2059.jpg'> 
Central Post Office Building: Mission Accomplished!</center>	
 
As we have shared information with our readers over the last couple of months, VPS Webmaster Marvin Lanahan has been diligently working to establish improved communications with both the Vatican Post Office and Commercializzazione Filatelica e Numismatica (CFN), the Vatican’s postal service and philatelic sales service, respectively. After many emails back and forth, Marvin was finally able to schedule a face-to-face meeting during his vacation to Italy with representatives of the Post Office and CFN. The meeting took place this past Monday, May 6, at the Vatican Central Post Office Building. It was with much anticipation and tempered hopes that Marvin headed for the meeting.
 
Marvin had one other objective as part of this meeting: he had a long-standing desire to photograph the Vatican Central Post Office building, which has restricted pedestrian access via Saint Anne’s Gate (one of the entrances to Vatican City--literally the eastern international border between Vatican City and Italy). On his last trip to Rome, the Swiss Guards stopped Marvin at the Gate and did not allow him down the Via del Belvedere to the post office. For this week’s meeting, he was issued a special access pass to enter through the Gate. Coincidentally, this occurred on May 6, the annual date for the renewal of the Swiss Guard’s oath of allegiance to the pope. This time, his meeting with the Guards at Queen Anne’s Gate was positive, and Marvin was allowed to pass through the Gate and on to the Central Post Office Building. The photo at the top of this article is a “bucket list” prize for Marvin.
 
The two-hour meeting with the Post Office and CFN met expectations—and more! Marvin’s efforts have resulted in the establishment of defined contacts for VPS within the two services, providing lines of communication to support everyone’s efforts to enhance and promote Vatican philately. In addition, there were discussions to allow access to philatelic material sold by the Post Office that is not currently available through CFN, hopefully making these items more readily available to collectors. In addition to “business”, Marvin was able to tour some of the non-public areas of the Central Post Office and take some photographs that most are not able to get. He has promised to share those with us in the future.
 
The day was a resounding success for Marvin personally and for VPS. There will be more to come on the subjects covered at the meeting and the programs which will hopefully come out of these discussions. The society owes Marvin its gratitude for all his work in arranging this meeting and for the achievements he accomplished.

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