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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Vatican stunned by Irish embassy closure VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Catholic Ireland's stunning decision to close its embassy to the Vatican is a huge blow to the Holy See's prestige and may be followed by other countries which feel the missions are too expensive, diplomatic sources said on Friday. The closure brought relations between Ireland and the Vatican, once ironclad allies, to an all-time low following the row earlier this year over the Irish Church's handling of sex abuse cases and accusations that the Vatican had encouraged secrecy. Ireland will now be the only major country of ancient Catholic tradition without an embassy to the Vatican. "This is really bad for the Vatican because Ireland is the first big Catholic country to do this and because of what Catholicism means in Irish history," said a Vatican diplomatic source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said Ireland informed the Vatican shortly before the announcement was made on Thursday night. Dublin's foreign ministry said the embassy was being closed because "it yields no economic return" and that relations would be continued with an ambassador in Dublin. The source said the Vatican was "extremely irritated" by the wording equating diplomatic missions with economic return, particularly as the Vatican sees its diplomatic role as promoting human values. Diplomats said the Irish move might sway others to follow suit to save money because double diplomatic presences in Rome are expensive. It was the latest crack in relations that had been seen as rock solid until a few years ago. DAMNING REPORT In July, the Vatican took the highly unusual step of recalling its ambassador to Ireland after Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the Holy See of obstructing investigations into sexual abuse by priests. The Irish parliament passed a motion deploring the Vatican's role in "undermining child protection frameworks" following publication of a damning report on the diocese of Cloyne. The Cloyne report said Irish clerics concealed from the authorities the sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009, after the Vatican disparaged Irish child protection guidelines in a letter to Irish bishops. While Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore denied the embassy closure was linked to the row over sexual abuse, Rome-based diplomats said they believed it probably played a major role. "All things being equal, I really doubt the mission to the Vatican would have been on the list to get the axe without the fallout from the sex abuse scandal," one ambassador to the Vatican said, on condition of anonymity. Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, said he was profoundly disappointed by the decision and hoped the government would "revisit" it. "This decision seems to show little regard for the important role played by the Holy See in international relations and of the historic ties between the Irish people and the Holy See over many centuries," Brady said in a statement. The Vatican has been an internationally recognized sovereign city-state since 1929, when Italy compensated the Catholic Church for a vast area of central Italy known as the Papal States that was taken by the state at Italian unification in 1860. It has diplomatic relations with 179 countries. About 80 have resident ambassadors and the rest are based in other European cities. The Vatican guards its diplomatic independence fiercely and in the past has resisted moves by some countries to locate their envoys to the Holy See inside their embassies to Italy. Dublin said it was closing its mission to the Vatican along with those in Iran and East Timor to help meet its fiscal goals under an EU-IMF bailout. The closures will save the government 1.25 million euros ($1.725 million) a year. (Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Conor Humphries in Dublin; Editing by Tim Pearce) Comments: Paul The Vatican "sees its diplomatic role as promoting human values"? What values are those? Raping children? Aiding and abetting predatory pedophiles? There are individual Catholics who are wonderful, loving people and a shining example to us all. But the hierarchy of the Church are a bunch of greedy, power-hungry professional Church politicians. I can't think of a single bishop or cardinal who I would trust to do the right thing in most circumstances. And the Pope is the worst of a bad bunch. Marino: so far there is 3600 plus comments about the catholic church and would be easy to say 95% of the comments are anti-catholic.....it's not sad for the church ..but sad for those whos comments are just wrong/unfair/no truth.....first of all did some bishops protect priests who abuse by transfering them to other places...yes...but back then no one knew the depth of this disease and how to handle it...now its not hidden...priest who are accused are taken out of the work till proved innocent....you never mention the priests who are accused and it's false...plus no mention of the lawyers who pocketed 600 million in fees..its become big business....if a priest abuses he belongs in jail!!!! but so do the teachers/doctors/fathers/brothers/uncles/neighbor who do the same everyday to our kids... ...to those who say the catholic church isn't christian,,,is so silly when the catholic church is the same now as it was 2000 year ago...every group who clain to be christian..got there bible from the catholic church....cause they were the only church...plus the bible is read every day thruout the world in the mass....THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS A BIBLE RICH CHURCH but let's not talk about 200,000 schools/1200 colleges-universites/15000 hospitals-clinics/ten of thousands of soicial services ..THAT...the CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS TO SERVE THE WORLD THRU THE HARD WORK OF MILLIONS OF CATHOLICS... Tiger: Maybe the embassy should be converted into a prison for sex offenders. Poster Comment: May be the beginning of the end for this haven for sex perverts. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Good for Ireland, the Vatican is a fraud just like the FED and the other international banks. Now, if they'll just deny the debt and kick the IMF to the street.
"the man who puts all the guns and all the decision-making power into the hands of the central government and then says, “Limit yourself”; it is he who is truly the impractical utopian." Murray Rothbard
With our current communication capabilities, why waste money on ambassadors or embassies anywhere. I'd like to know the global savings there. Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson It's a traditional sinecure for political party hacks whom politicians rely upon for election campaign organization and therefore have to reward them/give them a cushy job. Process will continue until voters decide massively to take the same kind of interest in political issues, organization and campaigning as they do in sports and TV. Embassies also serve as spy bases for governments of ill will, particularly those under the influence of Organized Jewry. Otherwise they are a non wealth-producing redundancy in the light of today's communications systems.
This is a bit of a stretch and somewhat misleading. There is no historical connection between the Vatican City and the Papal States. The Vatican City as a political entity is entirely a creation of Mussolini. The fascists needed religious legitimacy for their political regime so Il Duce offered the Pope an autonomous mini-state in return for the Church supporting fascism. The Papal States were ancient history and the Church was not entitled to any compensation for that. There is no reason why Ireland, the United States, or any other country should be expected to maintain dual embassies in Rome. Relations with the Vatican could easily be handled out of an office in the embassy to Italy.
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