An Important Clarification on the Proposed French Ambassador to the Vatican

OnePeterFive ^ | 4/15/15 | Steve Skojec

[BlatherNaut]

Stories were blowing up the Internet last week saying that France was sending Laurent Stefanini — an “openly gay” ambassador — to the Vatican. More turmoil and surprise when the Vatican refused his appointment. We didn’t cover the story, though we did link to it in this piece.

Only something is not right:

The first interesting point is that Stefanini, before the press took hold of this affair, was not publicly known as a homosexual: reliable sources say he never touched the subject. He is 54, unmarried, without children; he also has no known companion. He is not known ever to have lobbied for gay rights or same-sex “marriage.” And he has continued not to express himself on the subject.

On the other hand he is known to be a practicing and even devout Catholic, having converted when in his thirties: he was confirmed by Cardinal André Vingt-Trois in 1998. Stefanini is one of the few remaining French people who still go to Mass every Sunday – 5 percent of the population – and has a profound interest for all things Catholic. He is also the official representative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Order of Malta.

So many questions remain unanswered – and should probably have stayed that way: is Stefanini really “gay”? Is he a practicing homosexual? Those questions regard his private life and he has not taken the initiative of making the answers public. He was in any case 1st counselor of the French Embassy to the Holy See from 2001 to 2005, a post in which he earned the appreciation of the Curia, and occupied the post of special counselor for religious affairs at the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs on his return.

[livius]

I think this is kind of a double bind. The diplomat supposedly is not openly gay, and may just be somebody with homosexual inclinations (although a lot of those people are actually kind of asexual but now get forced into being homosexual) who acted on them at one time or another. But maybe he’s really not interested in defining his entire life as “gay,” and is not sexually active with anybody, but the gay lobby wants to “out” him and make him identify as gay.

On the other hand, it may be a challenge to the Pope, although I think that if the potential diplomat were more overtly gay, the Pope would be more accepting. After all, the Papal Nuncio (Ricca, an Italian) who got kicked out of the Dominican Republic for bringing his own boyfriend and frolicking around with him is now in good standing with the Vatican and taking on other tasks, thanks to Pope Francis.

I doubt that it was the Pope who opposed the French diplomat, but was somebody in the diplomatic corps, and this will probably be reversed after the Pope sends that person off to Siberia.

[piusv]

So, like I said in those threads congratulating Francis, there could be another reason for the “rejection”.

[BlatherNaut]

This has the appearance of a contrived controversy. There is seemingly no evidence that the characterization of Stefanini as a homosexual is accurate. Perhaps he is being blackballed for other reasons entirely.

This leaves us with a conundrum. A self-affirmed practicing Catholic, apparently supported by the Church’s hierarchy, is probably losing any chance of becoming French ambassador to the Holy See over media rumors concerning his real or supposed homosexuality. A mixture of true and false information has been spread whose consequences are embarrassing for all concerned, but which at the end of the day appear to be especially detrimental to the Church and to the French pro-traditional marriage movement. No one can say for certain whether he has been rejected by the Holy See or not, and if so, by whom – the Pope? – nor for what reason, if any. Apparently, a change of personnel at the Secretariat of State of the Holy See could explain the delay for Stefanini’s acceptance but that, again, is a conjecture. Also: who had an interest in creating this public “scandal”?

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/frances-proposed-vatican-envoy-is-a-devout-catholic-and-may-not-even-be-gay

[piusv]

Also: who had an interest in creating this public “scandal”? Is it a case of personal jealousy or resentment, or a move to put the Holy See in an uncomfortable position?

Hmmm. Given the immediate, congratulatory reaction of conservative Catholics (including those seriously concerned about the end results of the upcoming Synod), I have to wonder.....

[BlatherNaut]

Internecine squabble among the global climateers, perhaps?

“Laurent Stefanini, Ambassador for Climate Change, Republic of France”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAN21eLlvBI

[piusv]

This thread is quiet. I’m curious whatever happened to all of the posters who were high-fiving Francis for rejecting the French ambassador because he was gay. And those who saw this report as hopeful with respect to the potential results of the upcoming Synod.

[BlatherNaut]

And those who saw this report as hopeful with respect to the potential results of the upcoming Synod.

The results of the Synod are peripheral at this point, since the "mercy squads" are being prepped to do an end run around any outcome in contravention to "serene" theology.