Vatican representative welcomes return of United States to UNESCO

Published: 2003-10-06

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Vatican representative welcomed the United States back as a full-fledged member of UNESCO, after a 19-year U.S. boycott of the cultural agency. "Our work will benefit greatly by this, and the United States will also be a beneficiary," Msgr. Francesco Follo told a UNESCO general conference in Paris Oct. 3. Earlier in the week, Laura Bush arrived in Paris with Louise V. Oliver, the president's new ambassador to UNESCO, as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is known. Oliver, a political activist and former Republican fund-raiser, has been a somewhat controversial choice but is expected to receive Senate confirmation. Msgr. Follo, the Vatican's permanent observer to UNESCO, expressed the Holy See's "joy" at the return of the United States. The United States withdrew from UNESCO in 1984 after accusing the agency of pursuing an anti-American and anti-Western political agenda.

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