Pope Francis 'refuses' gay French ambassador

The Telegraph ^ | 04-10-2015 | Henry Samuel

[NRx]

Pope Francis has reportedly barred the nomination of a close aide of President Francois Hollande as new French ambassador to the Vatican because he is gay.

The apparent rejection calls into question the pope's reputation as holding more liberal views on homosexuality.

Laurent Stefanini, 54, a senior diplomat and Mr Hollande's chief of protocol, was nominated in early January but the Vatican has maintained a stony silence over whether it accepts his credentials, officials in Paris said.

The usual time frame for their acceptance is a month and a half. After that, a prolonged silence after a nomination is normally interpreted as a rejection.

[NRx]

“What “highly placed Vatican officials”?...”

The same ones that are routinely quoted sans attribution when the Holy See wants to make a point. I think you are being blinded by your prejudice against the current Pope and just don’t want to accept that he is doing the right thing here. The Vatican doesn’t do things the way you are suggesting. It is medieval and decidedly old school in the way it handles diplomacy. This is how the Holy See rejects ambassadors (on the very rare occasions when that happens). It is the same way Pope’s Kings and Emperors communicated their royal displeasure in centuries past. They don’t give the target of their royal displeasure the dignity of an acknowledgement. They just silently snub them. It is the diplomatic equivalent to the King walking through a crowd of nobles at court and greeting them and then seeing one not in favor and just staring past him or looking at the sky in stony silence. It is deeply insulting and the French are no doubt seething.

But as for a formal or public statement explaining things, that is just not done in the Vatican. Frankly as a trad Catholic, I am surprised you don’t understand this. The Vatican is the worlds last Christian absolute monarchy and while some of the externals may have changed, the basic protocol in the Vatican is still that of a Royal Court from the ancien regime.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Of interest to you, I think:

Turkey Anger at Pope Francis Armenian 'Genocide' Claim (FR LINK)

[samtheman]

Thanks

[piusv]

I’ve actually read in other places that the reason could be a couple of things: the recent legalization of gay marriage in France and the sheer fact that France made the announcement public before contacting the Vatican.

I have also read that with certain recent rejections, reasons were made known.

If Francis is against this ambassador because he is gay, let him admit it. He’s not one for traditional protocol anyway.

[IrishBrigade]

I think you are being blinded by your prejudice against the current Pope and just don’t want to accept that he is doing the right thing here.

something about ‘broken clocks’ and ‘twice a day’ comes to mind, for some reason...

I count the days until Francis’ yielding of his pontificate...