Vatican City, Feb 15, 2012 / 17:23 pm
The United Kingdom's Ambassador to the Holy See believes the two-day visit of government ministers to Rome Feb. 14-15 will set a new trend in how foreign countries should diplomatically engage the Vatican.
“Very few countries seize the opportunity that we have spotted, as far as the Holy See is concerned, of working with their network across all these issues that we are interesting and they are interested in,” Ambassador Nigel Baker told CNA Feb. 15.
Throughout the morning, a team of seven U.K. ministers took part in discussions with their respective Vatican equivalents. The result was a joint communiqué outlining areas of agreement between the U.K. and Holy See on issues such as culture, human rights, climate change and international development.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone “last night said at dinner that this is something we should have been doing in the past and maybe ought to be doing in the future,” said Ambassador Baker, “so I think we set a few hares running in the Holy See.”