BENEDICT'S DIPLOMACY IS MUCH LESS POLITICAL
Here is a translation of an analysis from korazym.org of Vatican diplomacy in the light of recent events.
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POLITICS AND MORAL FORCE:
Whither Vatican diplomacy
By Matteo Spicuglia
With a new Secretary of State, the complex diplomatic network of the Holy See will probably change to less politics and more moral suasion.
Meanwhile, the present Vatican observer to thr United Nations is said to be gaining ground as the next minister for relations with foreign states, to replace Mons. Giovanni Lajolo, who takes over as governor of Vatican city state.
Those we have spoken to us are uneasy. At the moment, they say, they is no line to follow, they are not getting any practical indications from the Secretariat of State, and they are living through the days in a state of limbo. Such is trhe feeling of an apostolic nuncio who is assigned to one of the world's hotspots.
His uneasiness also offers an indication of the possible evolution of Vatican diplomacy in Benedict XVI's pontificate. The change is certainly under way and may emerge more clearly as soon as the new Secretary of Sate, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, takes up the job on September 15.
DIPLOMACY. The Catholic Church has always exercised influence, first in society and then in politics. By the simple fact that it represents more than a billion people in the world, but also thanks to the international rights of the Holy See and the state rights of Vatican City State, a true and proper territorial realm, as tiny as it is, in which the temporal and spiritual spheres are permanently entwined.
The Holy See is represented by a diplomatic mission in many countries. These missions have their own structure and their own politics. Clearly they do not override the internal functions of the Church, embodied in the bishops, the presidents of the bishops' conferences, and the cardinals of the larger cities, who - as recent history has shown (particularly in eastern Europe) - represent the true bulwark of the Catholic presence, through their charism as well as through publicly acknowledged virtues.
In this scenario, the apostolic nuncios continue to act as 'ambassadors,' responding not so much to pastoral needs, as to the Secretariat of State, the Holy See's politico-diplomatic organ par excellence.
LESS POLITICS. With the appointment of Cardinal Bertone, a new perspective may open up. It has been pointed out repeatedly that the Archbishop of Genoa does not come from the Vatican's diplomatic ranks. It is something he shares with the Pope, who has been used all his life to dealing with theologians and bishops, rather than with diplomats and politicians.
His choice of Bertone may be explained first of all by the total relationship of trust that has linked them for years, but also by
the Pope's wish to depoliticize the task of the Secretary of State with a view to making the actions of the Holy See primarily spiritual and pastoral.
In this sense, Benedict XVI's words about the Middle East in the interview e gave August 5 for German TV are emblematic.
The Pope issued his nth appeal for peace, which was preceded by some premises, namely, that
"The Holy See is not after any political power," but addresses itself "to Christians and to all who in some way feel themselves called on" by his words.
Therefore, a kind of 'moral suasion,' rooted not in traditional power but in a more profound credibility. The same concept was expressed by Cardinal Bertone in a sentence attributed to him by
Corriere della Sera: "The Vatican is not a State [in the temporal sense of the word]."
If this is the case, it follows that
those organisms which in the past decades had responded to the pre-Benedict concept of Vatican diplomacy would be overhauled if not outright abolished.
That has been happening since the start of this Papacy, with small novelties that at the beginning were simply seen as a change in style. For instance, Benedict XVI has decided he will no longer receive the nuncios routinely. Except in rare exceptions, he meets them for a brief exchange of words after the Wednesday general audiences. This is far from John Paul II's relationship with his diplomats, whom he always received in his private library.
For this Pope, it is not a question of respect or of caprice, but a rethinking of his role and that of the Church, as well as of the curial machinery.
A REFORM IN VIEW? The case of the nuncio who does not know what to do is surely an extreme case that is also due to the instability of the past few months, with an outgoing Secretary of State who has managed to stay in office much longer than anticipated.
In any case, the overhaul of the nunciatures (in the past, there was even talk of closing them down or consolidating some of them) would corespond to the essential nature of reform projects that have been pending since the end of Vatican-II.
It must be remembered that in the last years of his Pontificate, Paul VI had the serious intention to tackle this problem and was planning to convoke all the apostolic nuncios from all over the world to discuss it.
It would have been an occasion of confrontation and exchange but it was cancelled after the news was leaked to the press, and also because of the Pope's worsening health.
But the points at issue were known, and the Paul VI's very decision to call the meeting reflected his wish
to make the pastoral dimensions of the Church visible and recognizable to all.
The logic of a Cold War between two sides, however, required a strong political presence (represented by the so-called Ostpolitik, carried out by Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, with the close collaboration , among others, of someone like Mons. Angelo Sodano, who was a junior diplomat then).
But in today's complex and polycentric world, the moral and spiritual character of the Papacy could represent the most appropriate response. A politically unencumbered Holy See would be able to dialog more effectively with non-Catholic Christians, for whom it is difficult to accept the idea of a religion that has a juridical State; and in a more general sense, it would have the possibility of more elbow room to do what it needs to do.
A KEY TO READING. An interesting analysis is found in the book
Spies in the Vatican, written by two authoritative men - German jorunalist Werner Kaltefleiter, who has been ZDF 's Rome correspondent for years, and his colleague Hanspeter Oschwald, who will be one of the TV commentators for the Pope's forthcoming trip to Bavaria.
The two describe a Church whose priority is no longer to carry out a role in the political scene, helping nations to assert their fundamental rights, but rather "to convince the modern world by force of reason." This is a course that can only be pursued by renouncing power, starting with the nunciature system and interference in the life of the local churches.
The authors explain what has happened in Africa and Latin America, where the choice of bishops has more often reflected the nuncio's choice, based on criteria that were more political than pastoral - with the concrete risk of creating a duality, especially in controversial issues, when a bishop is battling local political power and finds himself being bypassed by the government which addresses itself to the Nuncio.
But in a globalized world, the role of the nunciatures risks becoming superfluous, if only because communications technology allows the Pope to have numerous channels of information which can allow him to dispose of diplomatic representation. "When the Pope no longer needs secret diplomacy, then Vatican ambassadors become useless."
SOLUTIONS. The formula? For Kaltefleiter and Oschwald, it is surely giving importance to the bishops' conferences, whose presidents could very well represent the Vatican, since in many cases, governments do prefer to speak directly to a local bishop or cardinal,rather than to the representative of a Pope who is far away.
Additionally, they point out,
renouncing power in the temporal sense "would make the Pope free to carry out his primary mission and would place him in a far better position as the spokesman for all Christianity, as primis inter pares, and as a moral force."
And one way to make this intention visible may also be who gets to be nominated the new secretary for relations with other states (in effect, the Vatican's foreign minister).
In the past weeks, the name of the current Apostolic Nuncio to Paris, Mons. Fortunato Baldelli, has led the speculation, but in diplomatic circles, they are betting on the current permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Mons. Celestino Migliore.
The latter is an experienced diplomat who, in his years at the UN, has carried forward the Vatican stand on numerous
international issues, always placing human rights and the defense of the individual as the basic criteria - suitable therefore to a diplomacy that is more pastoral and far less political.