21 Facts About Callista Gingrich

Callista Louise Gingrich is an American diplomat, businesswoman, author, and documentary film producer who served as United States ambassador to the Holy See from 2017 to 2021.

Callista Gingrich currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Gingrich 360, a multimedia production and consulting company based in Arlington, Virginia and is married to former House Speaker and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

Callista Gingrich's father worked in a packing plant and her mother was a secretary.

Callista Gingrich is of paternal Polish and maternal Swiss descent.

Callista Gingrich graduated as valedictorian from Whitehall Memorial High School in 1984.

In 1988, just out of college, Callista Gingrich accepted an internship in Washington, DC, in the office of Republican Congressman Steve Gunderson.

Callista Gingrich authored seven children's books featuring Ellis the Elephant, including Sweet Land of Liberty, about American exceptionalism, and Land of the Pilgrims' Pride, about colonial America.

Callista Gingrich co-authored Rediscovering God in America with her husband, Newt Callista Gingrich.

Callista Gingrich co-authored a photobook, Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny, with Newt Gingrich and Dave Bossie.

Callista Gingrich is the voice for several of her husband's audiobooks.

President Donald Trump nominated Callista Gingrich to be the United States Ambassador to the Holy See in May 2017, and the United States Senate confirmed the nomination on October 16,2017.

On December 22,2017, Callista Gingrich presented her credentials to Pope Francis and officially assumed the duties of United States Ambassador to the Holy See.

Callista Gingrich was the 11th US Ambassador to the Holy See since formal relations were established in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan.

Callista Gingrich assumed the role of Ambassador after several instances of high-profile criticism of Donald Trump and his policies by Pope Francis and his allies.

In June 2018, Callista Gingrich helped return a letter written by Christopher Columbus that had been stolen from the Vatican Archives.

Callista Gingrich highlighted the role of women religious on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and in conflict zones and helped Samaritan's Purse bring an emergency field hospital, doctors and nurses to an area of northern Italy hit hard by COVID-19.

In February 2018, Callista Gingrich was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Ave Maria School of Law.

In June 2020, Callista Gingrich was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX by Pope Francis, the highest distinction conferred by the Holy See on laypersons, in recognition of her contributions to the Church and society.

In early 2012, Callista Gingrich began to take a more active role in the campaign, and undertook her first campaign speaking appearances without her husband.

Callista Gingrich serves as a Member of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Board of Trustees, a Member of the Ave Maria School of Law Board of Governors, a Member of the Richard Nixon Foundation Board of Directors, and a Member of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds Catholic Advisory Board.

In 2002, Newt Callista Gingrich asked the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta to annul his 19-year marriage to Marianne on the basis that she had been previously married.