Sir, – The Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori) is surprised and disappointed with the Government’s decision to close the embassy to the Holy See. We ask the Government to reconsider this decision, for which no reasonable justification has been offered.
An embassy exists in the first place, not for economic or market reasons, but to keep the Government in the home country informed on issues and secondly to cultivate good relations with the host country and other serving diplomats stationed in that country.
There are close to 80 ambassadors accredited to the Holy See and based in Rome with a further 100 located elsewhere. This extensive network provides unparalleled opportunities for exchanges on a range of issues. In addition to this the Vatican has over 200 embassies worldwide.
Last week, Russia raised its embassy to the Vatican to ambassadorial level. We need every possible international connection and good relationship in these difficult times – and closing an embassy, which has served us well over the decades, seems like a retrograde and unnecessary step. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Vincent Twomey (Opinion, November 10th) seems confused about the difference between Church and State, both in Ireland and the Vatican. The Pope, unique among religious leaders, is both a head of state (or should I say statelet) and head of the Roman Catholic Church. The International Eucharistic Congress in 2012 is an Irish Catholic Church event and the bishops can invite to it anyone they want to. The Pope can attend it as head of the Catholic Church as the previous Pope did in Scotland in 1982 where he made a pastoral visit. The Government can make it a State visit if it wants to, but I doubt if there is a public appetite for that.
By the way, now that we have closed the embassy to the Vatican, will the Angelus on RTÉ be the next thing to go? I certainly hope so. – Yours, etc,