 The Vatican reaction to the news of Ireland's enthusiastic embrace of marriage equality was quick and negative.Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, called the measure's passage a "defeat for humanity.”

On 3 November 2011 the Irish Tániste and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore announced that Ireland would close its embassy in the Vatican, along with the embassy in Tehran and a representative office in East-Timor, and that the Irish ambassador to the Holy See would reside not in Rome but in Ireland.Gilmore said the ""decision follows a review of overseas missions carried out by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which gave particular attention to the economic return from bilateral missions"".