Au revoir to Tauran: New Vatican foreign minister no stranger to U.S.

Published: 2003-10-10

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Among the recent high-level Vatican appointments in early October, one in particular caught the interest of U.S. diplomats: After 13 years, French Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran -- now a cardinal-designate -- was ceding his post as the Vatican's "foreign minister." There was even keener interest in his replacement: Italian Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, 68, a veteran papal diplomat but a relative unknown to the wider world. The question on a lot of people's minds was whether the new man would be any friendlier to U.S. foreign policy positions than his predecessor. In the eyes of some observers, Archbishop Lajolo has one automatic plus: He is Italian, not French. Not that Vatican policies are conditioned by the nationalities of their officials. In theory, at least, it shouldn't matter whether the secretary for relations with states -- as Archbishop Lajolo's position is titled -- is from Paraguay or Papua New Guinea. "Here, it's not individuals who create the policy positions of the Holy See. Nationality signifies nothing in terms of a shift in a policy line, and there's no shift occurring here," said one informed Vatican source.

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .