THE DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs has rejected calls for the papal nuncio to be expelled from Ireland for ignoring requests for information from the Dublin commission.The department said last night that “creating a diplomatic incident is not the solution”.
It is considering a number of options over concerns prompted by the Dublin diocesan report, including the disclosure that the nuncio’s office failed to respond to correspondence from the commission.
These options include a possible summoning of the nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, to meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, and the conveying of concerns to the Vatican via Ireland’s Ambassador to the Holy See Noel Fahey.
“How this particular issue was handled is something we would encourage the Catholic Church authorities to address,” a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said last night.
“The creation of a diplomatic incident is not the solution. Any approach through diplomatic channels that would assist will be considered by the Government in the context of its overall response and action to the findings of the commission,” he added.
Calls for the nuncio to be expelled increased over the weekend. A Facebook petition calling for Archbishop Leanza’s expulsion has been signed by more than 1,850 people since it was set up last week.
“There is a huge desire on the part of a lot of people to see some action taken both in relation to the papal nuncio and at diplomatic levels with the Vatican,” One in Four founder and director of Amnesty International’s Ireland section Colm O’Gorman said last night.
“The papal nuncio should at the very least be summoned by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is really important that the State recognises that the Vatican must be held to account in some way for not co-operating with this investigation,” he said.
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