PDA

View Full Version : Vatican stunned by Irish embassy closure



Captain Obvious
11-05-2011, 05:43 AM
http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-stunned-irish-embassy-closure-131052801.html

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Catholic Ireland's stunning decision to close its embassy to the Vatican is a huge blow to the Holy See's prestige and may be followed by other countries which feel the missions are too expensive, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

The closure brought relations between Ireland and the Vatican, once ironclad allies, to an all-time low following the row earlier this year over the Irish Church's handling of sex abuse cases and accusations that the Vatican had encouraged secrecy.

Ireland will now be the only major country of ancient Catholic tradition without an embassy to the Vatican.

"This is really bad for the Vatican because Ireland is the first big Catholic country to do this and because of what Catholicism means in Irish history," said a Vatican diplomatic source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

He said Ireland informed the Vatican shortly before the announcement was made on Thursday night.

...

Conley
11-05-2011, 08:44 AM
Wow, I wonder how much is due to finances and how much is due to the sex scandal? I doubt the Irish government will be too forthcoming about the reasons, governments rarely are. And how many were involved in this decision...

Mister D
11-05-2011, 09:38 AM
Wow. I don't think the scandals were the primary cause. Ireland closed several embassies (e.g. Timor, Iran) but the scandals probably made the government less concerned about perceived slights. That's for sure.