Furor over Paris Nuncio's
advocacy letter sent privately
to some European parliamentarians
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from
January 28, 2010
Last January 8, the Apostolic Nuncio in France, Mons. Luigi Ventura,
wrote a letter accompanied by a 'memorandum' to some representatives of the Partita Popolare Europea (PPE) in the European Parliament asking them, in the name of the Holy See, to commit themselves to amending a resolution on sexual discrimination and suggesting that they should oppose its approval if the text remains 'unacceptable'.
The letter also proposed that they support the candidacy of Riccardo Ventre and Luca Volonte, respectively, to be the Italian judge in the European Court of Human Rights, and to be president of the PPE delegation in the European Council.
The letter was disclosed on the floor of teh European parliament by the Luxembourg Socialist representative Lydia Err, who denounced it as 'scandalous and unacceptable Vatican intervention".
The vote on the resolution against sexual discrimination, which requires, among others, a guarantee of legal recognition for homosexual couples, was scheduled to take place Wednesday, but it has been postponed to April because of 80 amendments presented mostly by PPE parliamentarians.
"At the behest of the Secretary of State," Mons. Ventura writes, "I would like to share with you the concerns of the Holy See with regard to two proposed resolutions whose texts are in open violation of natural law and the values promoted by the Catholic Church, and of the need to participate actively in the vote."
"Some members of the PPE," the letter goes on, "like Volonte, Farina and Gatti, have already been informed of the concerns of the Holy See and have submitted amendments to improve the proposed resolutions. In sending you a memorandum in this respect, allow me to request your support for the wishes of the Holy See".
The Nunciature in Paris would not comment on the news, while Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi merely remarked that "it is normal for the Church to intervene in defense of its moral principles".
"I am taken aback. I know nothing of this", said the head of the Italian parliamentary delegation to Strasbourg, Luigi Valente. "I am astonished at an initiative that was neither requested nor agreed upon, I hope teh Nuncio will make a clarification".
Pietro Mercenario, a senator from the Partita Democrata (center left), said the Nuncio's letter was "a serious institutional interference".
His colleague, Vannino Chiti, said the action was 'unbelievable', adding: "The Catholic Church, like any other religious confession, has the full right to publicly express its positions on every issue in society. Precisely because of this, it is unbelievable that a private letter should have been sent only to selected parliamentarians and that it gets down to the details of which amendments to approve or reject, and that specific candidates are endorsed".
The Nuncio, Mons. Ventura, was recently assigned to Paris after serving as Nuncio in Canada, and is considered to be one of the Vatican's most experienced diplomats. The question here is the ill-advised action of writing private letters to selected Parliamentarians, openly urging them to specific actions.
An open letter to all the Parliament members publicly expressing the Church's position on disputed parts of the proposed resoluti0n(s) would have been more appropriate.
Which is what the Russian Orthodox Church did:
Moscow patriarchate sends message
to European Parliamentarians
opposing resolution that would
validate homosexual unions
VATICAN CITY, Jan. 29 (Translated from ADNkronos) - The patriarchate of Moscow, through its minister for foreign relations, Archbishop Hilarion, has sent a message to the participants of the last session of the European Council's parliamentary assembly, to express its opposition to a resolution that condemns sexual discrimination and would require recognition of same-sax unions, in an open letter dated January 26.
The Vatican had earlier chosen to dot his by means of private letters sent by the Apostolic Nuncio in Paris to a selected group of parliamentarians belonging to the Partita Popolare Europea (PPE), including French, Dutch and Italian representatives.