US embassy cable - 05VATICAN482

UNCLAS  VATICAN 000482 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT. FOR (LEVIN, JAN) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, XG, IZ, IS, VT 
SUBJECT: CODEL SMITH AND VATICAN FOREIGN MINISTER REVIEW IRAQ, 
ISRAEL, EUROPE AND DIRECTIONS FOR NEW PONTIFICATE 
 
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Summary 
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1. Senator Gordon Smith and a delegation of Senators 
discussed Iraq, Israel and the church in Europe in a May 30 
meeting with Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo. 
Lajolo stressed U.S.-Holy See engagement for common goals 
in a stable Iraq, Middle East Peace settlement, and an 
outward-looking Europe rooted in moral values.  Lajolo told 
the Senators he expected broad continuity in the Holy See's 
external engagement under Pope Benedict XVI, given that 
Pope Benedict had been such a close collaborator of John 
Paul II.  Responding to the Senators' questions about the 
role of women in the church and the impact of the clerical 
abuse scandals, Lajolo said he expected the Holy See would 
continue to find ways to expand women's involvement in 
Vatican decision-making and expressed regret over the 
damage the abuse had done to the victims and the Church in 
the U.S.  End Summary. 
 
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Common engagement on greater goals 
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2. Senator Gordon Smith, accompanied by Senators Patrick 
Leahy, Jeff Sessions, Mike Enzi, and Jim Bunning met at the 
Vatican with the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with 
States, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo May 30.  Senator Smith 
began by thanking Lajolo for the "moral clarity" the Holy 
See brought to its international engagement.  Lajolo 
welcomed this recognition, noting that the United States 
and the Holy See share the same broad values, but differ on 
minor points of how to achieve these goals.  As an example 
of this, Lajolo cited the war in Iraq where the Holy See 
had disagreed with the initial decision to go to war, but 
now recognizes that there is "a new situation where we all 
have to work together to realize democracy."  Lajolo 
expressed appreciation for President Bush's visit to the 
Vatican in 2004, which he believed served to point out the 
scope of our shared agenda and helped overcome lingering 
questions about the bilateral relationship in the wake of 
the wartime differences.  Lajolo also mentioned that former 
President Clinton had just visited the week before in his 
capacity as the UN special envoy on Tsunami relief.  All of 
this, he believed, highlighted the extent to which "the 
U.S. and the Holy See are united for greater goals."  He 
concluded that "we must have common engagement on poverty, 
human rights, the family, and development." 
 
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Inter-Religious Dialogue and Faith in the Public Square 
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3.  Lajolo agreed with Senator Leahy that people of faith 
should unite to face common challenges and added that 
religiously inclined people needed to engage on values in 
public life, and not to allow fanatics or divisive elements 
to control the dialogue.  Senator Sessions asked Lajolo for 
his views on the relationship between Christians and 
Muslims and prospects for greater dialogue and 
understanding. Lajolo distinguished between relations with 
individuals and with the Muslim faithful as a whole, noting 
that one-on-one relations with Muslims, "as neighbors 
rather than enemies of their faith," are easier than 
bridging major theological differences.  "We have a 
historical-critical approach to the Bible, whereas Muslims 
take the Korean literally,"  Lajolo explained.  This 
contributed to a lack of flexibility on the Muslim side in 
dialogue.  He believed that challenge was to expand 
appreciation for the Western  tradition of dialogue more 
broadly within the Muslim world." 
 
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Continuity of Policy 
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4. Lajolo told the delegation they could expect broad 
continuity between the international orientation and 
priorities of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, with 
the most notable differences being ones of style and 
temperament.  A similar continuity would also prevail on 
theological and social issues, Lajolo indicated, especially 
since Cardinal Ratzinger had been one of Pope John Paul 
II's closest collaborators and helped shape the Church's 
direction on the major issues of the day.  Here, too, the 
changes would likely be more on emphasis and approach than 
overall goals, which would remain constant.  Already, 
Lajolo noted, Pope Benedict has indicated his priority for 
issues relating to the family,  in particular that 
"marriage will continue to be viewed as between men and 
women only."  Likewise, with regard to euthanasia, he has 
reaffirmed that life must be respected from beginning to 
end.  "So the basic ideas will not change," Lajolo 
observed.  That said, Lajolo did indicate in response to a 
question about the role of women in the Church that the 
Pope had told him that women should hold more positions 
within the Curia, even as they cannot hold roles that are 
reserved for priests, and that he will look to create 
positions of greater responsibility for women within the 
hierarchy of the church. 
 
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Europe and the Constitution 
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5. Senator Smith asked Lajolo for his reaction to the 
French "No" vote on the EU Constitution and their broader 
views of the EU constitution.  Lajolo responded that the 
Holy See "had reservations [because of the omission of a 
reference to Europe's Christian roots in the preamble], but 
we supported it because it brought together the nations of 
Europe."  He believed the constitution's principal defects 
were first, "that it is too complicated," and second, that 
it was seen as too liberal in the European sense of "not 
providing enough social engagement."  Elaborating, he noted 
that contradiction that "Europeans see the bureaucracy in 
Brussels as invasive, imposing the same laws for everyone," 
but that they also expect to retain social protections that 
their national governments have provided.  Senator 
Sessions, noting the strong role of faith in the U.S., 
asked about the role of faith in the EU and whether there 
would be a return from secularism to religiosity.  "It is 
hard to generalize between the role of faith in the U.S. 
and Europe," Lajolo responded, "as both have different 
histories."  The U.S. is more openly religious and American 
Catholics are more active in practicing their faith than 
European Catholics, he cautioned that this did not 
necessarily mean that Europeans lacked faith.  To be sure, 
secularization in Europe had become a strong force, but it 
would be wrong to conclude that faith played no role in 
Europe today, he maintained. 
 
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Israel and the Holy See 
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6. Senator Bunning then turned to the bilateral 
relationship between Israel and the Holy See, noting that 
he understood there wee ongoing difficulties in 
implementing the 1993 Fundamental Agreement that opened 
diplomatic relations between them.  Lajolo explained that, 
although the Fundamental Agreement provided a framework for 
relations, the Holy See subsequently learned that Israel 
had never translated the treaty into domestic legislation. 
Likewise, the 1997 agreement on the juridical status of the 
Church was signed, but never captured in domestic 
implementing legislation, as it was never brought before 
the Knesset.  Lajolo said the Holy See is now looking for 
concrete actions, and not just theoretical agreements, and 
that the ball was in the Israeli court to move this 
forward.  The Holy See had repeatedly been promised that 
the issues would be resolved, but they are still waiting. 
In the absence of progress, particularly on issues of 
taxation, Lajolo lamented, the small number of Catholic 
churches in Israel may be forced to close. 
 
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Sexual Abuse and the Holy See's Voice 
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7.  Reaffirming the importance the U.S. attaches to the 
Holy See's moral voice on a range of issues, Senators 
Bunning and Leahy pointed out that the clergy sexual abuse 
cases in the U.S. and the Church hierarchy's seeming 
failure to address these cases when they had occurred had 
damaged the Church's credibility in the eyes of many 
Americans.  They noted that an apparent unwillingness to 
criticize church leaders who had failed to protect children 
had been difficult for many Americans and American 
Catholics to understand.  Archbishop Lajolo expressed his 
profound personal regret for these cases, especially for 
the damage they inflicted on the victims.  He noted that 
the Church had to follow its Canon law in dealing with 
these cases, and had taken steps to prevent future 
occurrences by focusing greater attention on the formation 
of priests.  He acknowledged that this had damaged the Holy 
See in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. 
 
 
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Comment 
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8.  The Senate delegation's visit so early in the new 
pontificate, helped convey to the Holy See the broad and 
bipartisan political support in the U.S. for continued 
close collaboration with the Holy See toward common goals 
in Iraq, the Middle East, and Europe.  Archbishop Lajolo 
went out of his way to reaffirm his appreciation for the 
strong and consistent stands the administration has taken 
to protect the dignity of mankind and the value of life, 
and to convey the Holy See's desire to work with us under 
Pope Benedict, just as it had under Pope John Paul II. 
 
HARDT 
 
 
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 2005VATICA00482 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED