Vatican criticized over refusal to accept «gay» French ambassador

Europe

10.04.2015

By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online

Rome (dpa) - Italy‘s biggest gay rights group attacked the Vatican on Friday over its reported refusal to accept the nomination of France‘s new ambassador to the Holy See, Laurent Stefanini, on the grounds of his alleged homosexuality.

Difficulties over Stefanini‘s appointment have been reported by French and Italian media in recent days. President Francois Hollande tipped him for the post in January, but so far the Vatican has failed to accept his credentials.

"Clearly, even at the Vatican they do not practise what they preach," the chairman of the Arcigay association, Flavio Romani, said in a statement, in which he accused "top prelates" of contradicting one of Pope Francis‘ most famous remarks.

In July 2013, the pontiff said: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?"

The Vatican has refused to comment on the affair. It is unusual, but not unprecedented, for the Holy See to hold off on the acknowledgement of ambassadorial appointees, in the hope that they may be replaced by more palatable alternatives.

Stefanini, who was the second-ranking diplomat at the French embassy to the Holy See in 2001-2005, would not be the first gay ambassador posted to the Vatican. But no diplomat in that position has ever been openly homosexual.

The polemic over his nomination comes in the wake of tensions between the Vatican and France‘s Socialist government over the legalization of gay marriage, which was enacted in 2013, to the outrage of Catholic and conservative groups.