Pope rejects pursuit of military solution in Syria as Vatican convenes diplomats

I’m at the Vatican this week, where Syria is the number one topic of discussion and concern.

We just learned that in a letter sent yesterday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pope Francis urged international leaders to “lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution” in Syria.

It was the latest in a series of Vatican statements signaling opposition to President Obama’s planned attack on Syrian government forces and urging instead a renewed international-backed effort at diplomacy and negotiation.

The pope wrote to Putin because the Russian leader is chairing a G20 summit that Obama is attending, but also perhaps because Russia has been a supporter of the Syrian regime headed by Bashar Hafez al-Assad, and therefore may have some influence with the Syrian leader.

Francis condemned the “senseless massacre now unfolding” in Syria, and said the international community cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of the country’s civilian population. But he said the path to follow was dialogue, because “violence never begets peace.”

The pope’s letter was made public today after a meeting of ambassadors summoned by the Vatican for an urgent discussion of the Syrian situation. Addressing the diplomats, the Vatican’s foreign affairs minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, expressed outrage at the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria that left more than 1,400 people dead and called for clarification in identifying those responsible.

He cited Pope Francis’ recent condemnation of the attack: “There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable!” The Obama administration has blamed the Syrian regime for the attack.

Mamberti said the short-term priority in Syria is to stop the violence, and he warned of “unforeseeable consequences” if the fighting continues. He then listed several essential principles that need to be part of a just solution in Syria:

— Renewal of dialogue between all parties in Syria.

— Preservation of Syria’s unity and territorial integrity.

— Protection of all minorities, including Christians, in the future Syria, as well as respect for religious freedom.

Mamberti also expressed the Vatican’s growing concern about the presence of “extremist groups” in Syria, often from other countries, and said opposition forces should keep their distance from such extremists and openly reject terrorism. This was a point also raised by several of the 71 ambassadors present for the discussion that followed, according to a Vatican spokesman.

When it comes to the issue of a U.S. attack on Syrian government forces, there isn’t much debate going on at the Vatican: everyone here seems to think it would be a very bad idea.

The message from the pope and others is that a U.S. bombing of Syria would not bring peace any closer, would increase suffering in the country, would worsen the flow of refugees, would risk sparking a wider war and could further endanger the Christian community and other religious minorities in Syria.

Pope Francis has called for a universal day of prayer and fasting for peace on Saturday, an appeal that’s struck a chord among other religious leaders, including Muslims in the Middle East.

But it’s clear the pope also wants to make sure the Vatican’s diplomatic voice is heard, and thus his letter to Putin and the convocation of ambassadors.

All this echoes 2003, when Pope John Paul II convened diplomats and strongly warned against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. There are important differences, of course – the United States is not planning an invasion of Syria – but many Vatican officials still point to Iraq as proof that military intervention often opens new chapters of suffering instead of resolving conflicts.

When the United States and other Western powers took military action in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, there was significant support at the Vatican for international “humanitarian intervention” aimed at disarming the aggressor in the wake of ethnic cleansing and what Pope John Paul II called “crimes against humanity.”

But Vatican sources said this week that what Obama has in mind in Syria does not fit the definition of “humanitarian intervention.” Nor is a plan for peace being put forward. And that’s why, in this moment, prayer and fasting are seen not just as a symbolic response, but as a way to promote a new vision and a new international approach to Syria. (For a perceptive treatment of this issue, see Drew Christiansen’s piece in the Washington Post yesterday.)

Along with Middle East and U.S. bishops, several Vatican and church officials have weighed in on the Syrian question in recent days.

Bishop Mario Toso, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said armed intervention in Syria could easily extend the fighting to other countries, a situation that “has all the ingredients to explode in a war of global dimensions.”

Religious orders have enthusiastically supported the pope’s initiatives, and the superior general of the Jesuits, Father Alfonso Nicolas, took the unusual step of categorically rejecting the plan to attack Syria. “I have to admit, I don’t understand what right the United States or France has to act against a country in a manner that will undoubtedly increase the suffering of a population that has already suffered enough,” he said.

The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, has raised doubts about the United States’ attribution of the chemical attack to the Syrian government, saying that many find it “difficult to understand” why the Assad regime would cross the so-called “red line” of chemical weapons use when he appeared to be winning against the rebels.

Cruising the Mediterranean, landing in Rome

Your blogger has been missing in action lately, but I have a good excuse. I’ve been lecturing on board the Prairie Home Companion 2013 Cruise from Barcelona to Venice, speaking daily about the Vatican, the new pope, life in Rome and other Italian topics on which I’m the designated house expert. (I know, it’s a tough gig, but somebody’s got to do it.)

I’d never been on a cruise ship before, and I have to say this one was a winner. Garrison Keillor, who did two shows every evening in the main showroom, loaded the boat with so much entertainment that it was hard to know where to turn. Richard Dworsky led the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band. Guitarists Pat Donohue and Dean Magraw, mandolinist Peter Ostroushko, the great piano player and clarinetist Butch Thompson, singer Heather Masse and another singer, Hilary Thavis – yes, our daughter – were just some of the folks on board. So was Fred Newman, a genuinely funny guy who commands an arsenal of sound effects.

In one of the most hilarious acts, Sue Scott and Tim Russell staged an “interview” with retired Pope Benedict by an Italian talk show hostess. The idea that a retired pope could do the talk show circuit is not, of course, impossible, but the portrayal of Benedict subjecting himself to inane celebrity treatment hit my funnybone.

One of our cruise stops was Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, and I shepherded a small group to a Sunday papal blessing. I have to say I’m used to following the pope on a TV monitor as an accredited journalist in the press room. But on this Sunday my press badge was replaced by a cruise excursion sticker. I stood in St. Peter’s Square with about 50,000 others, watching as a tiny figure in white appeared at the window of an apartment complex he has chosen not to inhabit. Listening to Pope Francis talk, one can easily understand his popular appeal. The gate may be narrow, he said, but everyone is called to salvation, especially sinners. The road to salvation is not supposed to be a torture chamber. As I told cruise passengers who didn’t speak Italian, his basic message seemed to be: Live the just life, but don’t beat up on yourselves when you fall short. The APHC passengers seemed fascinated by Pope Francis, which probably explains why my “Vatican Decoded” talk was standing-room-only and had to be repeated twice during the cruise.

We disembarked in Venice and now I’m in Rome for a couple of weeks, to present the Italian edition of my book, The Vatican Diaries, and to lay the groundwork for my next project. I’m hoping to bump into the pope somewhere along the way.

A new Vatican secretary of state

As expected, Pope Francis today named Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin as his new secretary of state. The move is important primarily because it brings diplomacy front and center to a position that for the last seven years was held by a non-diplomat.

Archbishop Parolin, 58, is known around the Vatican as super-skilled in foreign affairs, having served in Vatican embassies (called nunciatures) in Mexico, Nigeria and, most recently, in Venezuela as apostolic nuncio. He is a graduate of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the Vatican’s diplomatic school, where students are hand-picked.

From 2002 to 2009, Parolin worked at the Secretariat of State’s headquarters at the Vatican, serving as the undersecretary for relations with states, a kind of deputy foreign minister. Although not a high-profile job, it was one of the most important at the Vatican; among other things, he was assigned to help untie diplomatic knots in China, Vietnam and Israel.

When U.S. Embassy personnel needed to discuss important diplomatic affairs with the Vatican, more often than not they went to see Parolin. That included some less-than-agreeable meetings when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, a move sharply criticized by the Vatican.

Parolin was also helpful to journalists covering the Vatican – on background, of course. He could brief reporters on just about any global issue in about five minutes, and he seemed to understand that the media’s accuracy improved when it had more information. He was known as a realist and a pragmatist.

Parolin replaces Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 78, a man who was Pope Benedict’s number two at the doctrinal congregation and who came to the Secretariat of State with zero diplomatic training. Many hold Bertone responsible for the series of missteps, miscommunications and leaks that marred Benedict’s final years in office.

Bertone, in the eyes of his critics, acted more as czar than diplomat-in-chief, in part because traditionally the secretary of state has coordinated the work of the Roman Curia and internal church affairs as well as foreign affairs. The big question mark that remains after today’s announcement is whether Pope Francis intends to maintain that dual role, or whether the position could be redefined and refocused in the Curia reform envisioned by the new pope.

Here is the Vatican’s announcement, followed by a brief statement by Archbishop Parolin, who takes office Oct. 15:

RESIGNATION OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW SECRETARY OF STATE

The Holy Father has accepted, in keeping with Can. 354 of the Code of Canon Law, the resignation of His Eminence, Card. Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, asking him, however, to remain in office until 15 October, 2013, with all the faculties proper to the office.

At the same time, the Holy Father has nominated Archbishop Pietro Parolin, Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela, as the new Secretary of State. He shall take possession of his office on 15 October, 2013.

On that occasion, His Holiness shall receive in audience Superiors and Officials of the Secretariat of State, in order publically to thank Cardinal Bertone for his faithful and generous service to the Holy See, and to introduce them to the new Secretary of State.

STATEMENT BY ARCHBISHOP PIETRO PAROLIN ON THE OCCASION OF HIS APPOINTMENT AS SECRETARY OF STATE

At this moment, in which my appointment as Secretary of State is made public, I desire to express deep and affectionate gratitude to the Holy Father, Francis, for the unmerited trust he is showing me, and to make known to him once again my willingness and complete availability to work with him and under his guidance for the greater glory of God, the good of the Holy Church, and the progress and peace of humanity, that humanity might find reasons to live and to hope.

I feel very strongly the grace of this call, which is yet another and the latest of God’s surprises in my life. Above all, I feel the full weight of the responsibility placed upon me: this call entrusts to me a difficult and challenging mission, before which my powers are weak and my abilities poor. For this reason, I entrust myself to the merciful love of the Lord, from whom nothing and no one can ever separate me, and to the prayers of all. I thank all those who have shown and who, starting now, will show me understanding, as well as for any and all manner of help that anyone might desire to offer me in my new undertaking.

My thoughts go to my family and to all the persons who have been part of my life: in the parishes into which I was born and in which I served; in the dear Diocese of Vicenza; at Rome; in the countries in which I have worked – from Nigeria, to Mexico, and most recently in Venezuela, which I am sorry to leave. I think also of Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI, who ordained me bishop, I think of the Secretariat of State, which was my home for many years, of His Eminence, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, of the other Superiors, colleagues and collaborators and of the whole Roman Curia, as well as of all those who represent the Holy Father and the Holy See diplomatically around the world. I owe a great debt to them all.

It is with trepidation that I place myself in this new service to the Gospel, to the Church and to Pope Francis, but also with trust and serenity – disposed – as the Holy Father has asked us from the beginning – to walk, to build and to profess.

May our Lady, whom I like to invoke under her titles as Our Lady of Monte Berico, Guadalupe and Coromoto, give us, “The courage, to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Lord’s Cross; to build the Church on the Lord’s blood which was poured out on the Cross; and to profess the one glory: Christ crucified. And in this way, the Church will go forward.”

And, as they say in Venezuela, “¡Que Dios les bendiga!”.

Caracas, 31 agosto 2013