US to return 1493 Columbus letter to Vatican

VATICAN CITY: The United States announced Wednesday that it will return to the Vatican a copy of a handwritten 15th-century letter by Christopher Columbus in which the explorer recounts his “discovery of America” to the Spanish royal family.

The Columbus Letter, written in 1493, will be handed back to the Vatican Library, described as the letter’s “rightful home”, on Thursday at 0900 GMT, according to a statement released by the US Embassy to the Holy See.

The statement says that US ambassador Callista Gingrich will give the document to Vatican chief archivist Jean-Louis Brugues, accompanied by officials from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).