"New emphasis": the Irish Embassy to the Holy See, housed in
the Villa Spada
"New emphasis": the Irish Embassy to the Holy See, housed in
the Villa Spada
THE Irish government announced on Wednesday that it is to reopen
the country's embassy to the Holy See, more than two years after it
closed as a "cost-cutting measure" - which coincided with a
rancorous exchange between the two states over allegations that the
Vatican failed to co-operate with the government on the
child-sex-abuse scandal (News, 11 November
2011).
Since the embassy's closure inlate 2011, the Secretary-General
of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, David Cooney, has acted
as "caretaker", operating from Dublin. The country's Tánaiste
(Deputy Prime Minister), Eamon Gilmore, has denied that the move is
a U-turn. He suggested that the election of Pope Francis and a new
emphasison tackling hunger and world poverty lay behind the
reopening. The embassy will be staffed by one diplomat.
The RC Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal
Seán Brady, welcomed the announcement, as did the Apostolic Nuncio
to Ireland, the Most Revd Charles Brown.
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