 On 24 January 1893, the Apostolic Delegation in the United States was established at Washington, D.C. and Satolli was appointed first delegate.He was created cardinal-priest on 29 November 1895, with the titular church of "Santa Maria in Ara Coeli".His three-quarter length seated portrait was painted in 1893 by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947).