US embassy cable - 05VATICAN453

C O N F I D E N T I A L VATICAN 000453 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/WE-JLEVIN; IO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/3/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, VT 
SUBJECT: VATICAN SUPPORTS AND WILL ADVOCATE FOR U.S. AMENDMENT TO CSW 
DECLARATION 
 
REF: STATE 035876 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: D. Brent Hardt, Charge D'Affaires, EXEC, STATE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
1. (C) Per reftel, Charge met March 2 with Holy See 
Undersecretary for Relations with States Monsignor Pietro 
Parolin to urge the Vatican to lobby key countries in favor of 
the U.S. amendment to the Commission on the Status of Women 
(CSW) Declaration prior to the March 4 vote in New York. 
 
2. (C) Monsignor Parolin made clear that the Holy See fully 
supported the amendment, adding that the Vatican was "very, very 
pleased with this initiative."  He told Charge that the Holy See 
has already been actively engaged in lobbying for the amendment 
in New York and with Embassies to the Holy See here in Rome.  He 
had been in close contact with UN Permanent Observer Archbishop 
Celestino Migliore, who he understood had met with U.S. 
officials the day before to coordinate strategy. 
 
3. (C) Parolin indicated that he would have been happy to 
contact the Vatican's nuncios in our target countries as the 
U.S. desired, but that the short timeframe would not allow the 
Nuncios to make contact with ministries in time for the 
ministries to instruct their UN delegations.  Instead, Parolin 
said the Secretariat of State would directly contact the 
Ambassadors to the Holy See from the key countries to request 
that they convey the Vatican's high-level interest in this issue 
and recommend support for the U.S. amendment. 
 
4. (C) In fact, based on his earlier conversation with 
Archbishop Migliore, Parolin said he had already contacted the 
Ambassadors from Slovakia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, 
Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua to outline the Holy 
See's position and urge support for the U.S. amendment.  Looking 
at the additional countries mentioned in our demarche, Parolin 
said he would also contact the Ambassadors from Gabon, 
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Australia, and 
Chile.  Parolin noted that he would try with Argentina, but that 
in the wake of Argentina's position on cloning, he doubted it 
could be brought on board. 
 
5. (C) Regarding the other countries, Parolin pointed out that 
the Nigerian, Ugandan and Kenyan Ambassadors were not located in 
Rome, and would be more difficult to contact.  East Timor would 
require the Vatican to contact their Nuncio in Jakarta, which 
they would endeavor to do, but which might not work in time for 
the vote.  The Holy See does not have diplomatic relations with 
Somalia.  bringing the meting to a quick close, Parolin said he 
would immediately begin his round of calls to the key Embassies. 
 
 
HARDT