Vatican diplomacy: the glacial style
By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | May 30, 2003
Cardinal Pio Laghi has announced that the forthcoming visit to Rome by Colin Powell shows that the US is beginning to understand the importance of the Vatican in world affairs. (See today's CWN headline story.)
That's nice. Maybe next the Vatican will begin to understand the importance of the US.
One thing that Americans are not likely to understand is the patroniziing style of Vatican diplomats like Cardinal Laghi. Nor are we likely to understand his ability to say things that everybody knows are untrue-- as witness his denial that there have been any tensions recently between the Vatican and the White House.
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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