PERSPECTIVES ON THE VATICAN TRANSITION AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY Address by Ambassador Emeritus Tim Fischer AC Catholic Pre Conference to the 20th International AIDS Conference, Melbourne, 18 July 2014 Welcome to all who have travelled across the seas to reach Melbourne in the dead of winter, and welcome to my fellow Australians. I always thought this pre Catholic HIV and AIDS Conference and the huge one to follow complete with a Clinton and a Geldof was serious and always going to be with focus. Otherwise you would be meeting in sunny Cairns or the Gold Coast at this time of year, anywhere but Melbourne mid winter. A special welcome to Monsignor Roberto Vitillo from Geneva and Rome and from Caritas Internationalis, I salute the work of Monsignor Roberto and Caritas over five decades, however the really important role he handled on my watch was Co Manager of the Caritas Express Steam train from the Pope’s platform in the Vatican Gardens through the big arch and viaduct to a long lunch at Orvieto and safely back. Now to cut to the chase, what did I learn from 1000 days on posting based in Rome, a four word definition of Diplomacy : Protocol, Vitriol, Alcohol and after a big day’s networking Panadol ! There have been three extraordinary Popes so far in the first fifteen years of the 21st Century, indeed just three over the last 34 years, all giants of their time but all very different. On my arrival in early 2009 it was a Rome and a Vatican still mourning for Pope John Paul II, at least in some ways. On my departure in 2012 the drumbeats of papal resignation abounded and so the famous letter of resignation in Latin and in accord with Canon Law and precedent was read out by Pope Benedict XVI, in February 2013 and now we have Pope Francis, first Argentinian Pope and first Jesuit Pope ! (My hard working successor, Ambassador John McCarthy has a son who is a priest who picked both the result of the Conclave and the choice of the name Francis, now if he had bet all the Parish Funds on this outcome his Parish would be the richest in Sydney ! ) I want to deal with a threshold dimension on papal resignation, in my view it was a brilliant move by Pope Benedict XVI, an exemplar for the 21st century where Doctors can keep you living longer and reading books longer but there is a big difference in living long and managing a huge organisation like the say BBC or the much larger Holy See. Those few Cardinals still grumbling about this precedent should read again and ponder these famous words:
humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of my own physical strength”, now the rest of that great quote you will find in my book on page231. It was of course Pope Celestine V, resigning the Papacy in Naples, 13 December 1294. Pope Benedict prayed at the tomb of Pope Celestine V not once but twice and when I suggested to senior diplomats that Pope Benedict XVI was seriously thinking of resigning I was scoffed at. Again it is a personal view but the Benedict Resignation Exemplar will impact all the Papacies of the 21st century and after a few years or so, a decade but not two decades, Popes will have this Exemplar as a viable option that will strengthen not weaken the Holy See. Mind you and again as Pope Benedict XVI has said, it should not be used just because the going gets tough. One aspect mourned by many was the mistaken view that Pope Benedict XVI had stepped away from any geo-‐political role eg the key role of Pope John Paul II brilliantly arbitrating peace between Argentina and Chile over 25 years ago plus contributing to the overthrow of communism in eastern Europe. However that ignores the lead work that the Holy See did on the Cluster Bombs Convention during the Papacy of Benedict XVI led by the Geneva and Vienna Nunciatures plus the Vatican at the UN, especially by Papal Nuncio Tomasi. It was a controversial breakthrough arising out of the dreadful 2006 Lebanon v Israel Summer War and which saw so many children lose arms and legs due to a last minute insertion of cluster bomb munitions flown through the night from the USA and inserted by Israel forces into the southern half of Lebanon after the ceasefire had been inked but to be fair before it actually commenced. Dare I say you learn much in the hub of Rome. However the overall point I want to make is that in their own ways all three Popes have contributed much on various fronts that go to the Christian fabric of the world but also to the very existence of the world, including Pope Francis with his brilliant move and invitation involving the President of Israel and the President of the Palestinians after his visit to the Middle East in late May 2014. ADMINISTRATION It can never be easy to turn the ship of state of the Holy See, to revamp and reform. As Cardinal Pell has said recently, some within the Curia have resisted change: ”There is sadness and a bit of antagonism….”. This is true as many Cardinals including Cardinal Pell delivers a huge shake up to the Vatican finances, with all its complexities and in all its incarnations. What we all need to factor in is a huge change at the top and also near the very top. Just a few days ago the Pope made an obvious move that points to a cementing in place of a de facto Cabinet, not actually a Cabinet but a key top notch Pontiff Advisory Board. He increased from eight to nine the group of advising Cardinals by adding the very capable and great “ Italian non Italian” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretray of State and effective Prime Minister of the Holy See. So now we have in the C9 or kind of Advisory Cabinet of the Vatican the following: Cardinals Bertello (Governorato), Ossa (Chile), Gracias (India), Marx (Germany), Pasinya (Congo), O’Malley (Boston USA), Pell (Sydney) and initial Coordinator, Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga from Hondouras .
little in Rome and of course outstanding head of Caritas Internationalis. To this now formally add Cardinal Pietro Parolin for a total of nine with sweeping influence and of course from all over the world. Bishop of Albano Marcello Semeraro is the C9 Secretary. To battle they go and the shake up is commencing in earnest, including the IOR or Vatican Bank as Cardinal Pell completes his first 100 days as Cardinal Chancellor of the Exchequer to use Westminster parlance. I suspect there is much more to come on a range of fronts as Pope Francis gathers momentum. AIDS 2014 This is the 20th International AIDS Conference, reflecting the fact it has been a long and tortured pathway since the first discovery and identification of HIV and AIDS just over three decades ago. Today it is said that there are 35 million people living with HIV in the world, some 37 million have died from AIDS related illness over the last 30 years. So it is a subject and policy area the details of which I will leave to the experts, so many here and arriving in Melbourne this day and the next few days. It is a critical set of issues that in a sense can never get enough priority in consideration but equally it is not entirely ignored at the highest levels in the Roman Catholic Church, remember the comments made by Pope Benedict XVI that appeared in November 2010, namely that in certain circumstances where the intention is to reduce the risk of infection, use of condoms might be allowed as a first step on the way to another, a more humane sexuality. To be fair this quote should be taken in the context it was given, in a long interview with capable German journalist Peter Seewald. The interview was conducted over several days at Castel Gandolfo and the transcript was submitted for vetting by the Pope and then cleared for release in a famous book Peter Seewald wrote and it did raise eyebrows in the Curia. The Pope was not arguing for the use of condoms as a major campaign tool against the spread of HIV but he did raise the issue of condoms and in the context of heading off infection and better public health. Words are bullets in diplomacy and also in the HIV and related discussions and debates, I leave you with the comment that there is a need to guard against complacency on the HIV front. Just because the problem has been around a few decades by now, managed better in recent years and there has been some progress in easing the burden, does not -‐ as you all know -‐ reduce the need and importance of pushing on. Hence the large numbers of delegates at this 2014 Conference and at this Pre Conference an interesting step up focus on Solidarity with Africa and the linkages and liaison, including the work examples of Caritas Australia relating to projects in Africa. Faith based organisations contribute much to health and wellbeing in nearby places such as Papua New Guinea and I salute this vital work. Polio was almost entirely eliminated from Australasia in recent decades, spearheaded by a campaign mounted by Rotary International, we must now ensure likewise for HIV.
I reiterate never write off the Holy See or Rome, I reiterate after a period of transition under Pope Benedict XVI we now have transformation under Pope Francis. Things are changing in the hub of Rome in many ways, under the Papacy of Il Papa Francesco. Watch closely the deliberations and announcements flowing out of the C 9 and from the Pope himself. Engage with the Holy See and at all levels of the Vatican would be my parting thought and pray for Pope Francis. In my view he has only made one mistake so far, a tiny one hopefully rectified on his next visit to Assisi, he travelled by helicopter and not by Silver Arrow train from Rome, as his predecessor did in 2011. I confess I tried to gate crash entry to the Pope’s train in 2011 without success. Going by train compared to helicopter is cheaper and means a great reduction in carbon footprint so I hope on his next visit to the beautiful incredible birthplace of St Francis of Assisi, it will be a case of the Pope Francis Caritas Express train. ENDS (Further Information – Tim Fischer – Mobile NFP 0427 271456)
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