Nuncio and Vatican Diplomacy, Fernando Carvallo [COLUMNA]

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Catholic Church It is an international religious organization whose headquarters is also a state with sovereignty, territory and international politics: the Vatican. For this reason, the Church has a group of professional diplomats who are the representatives of the Pope to the states and international organizations with which the Vatican maintains official relations.

In each country, the diplomatic delegation of the Vatican is headed by a nuncio, who is an ecclesiastical authority independent of the local church. Vatican diplomacy is the oldest in the world and covers most countries. In countries with a Catholic majority, nuncios are usually deans of the diplomatic corps, and it is in this capacity that the current nuncio to Peru, Monseigneur Paolo Roccohe turned to President Dina Boluarte.

Of course, it is not the job of the papal nuncio to propose solutions or political strategies, but to remember the values ​​that inspire Vatican diplomacy: the priority of life, the rejection of violence, the condemnation of discrimination, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. . . .

For this reason, he called for “dialogue among brothers of the same nation, with full respect for human rights and Law supremacy”. Monsignor Rocco wondered if we had not “reached the edge of the abyss because we neglected and eclipsed values ​​beyond the contingency.”

The nuncio did not hesitate to denounce visible forms of violence, as well as “other, more insidious violence that despises what is different, especially when its demands are in some way detrimental to their interests.” Rocco is undeniably a diplomat, but he doesn’t shy away from speculation that can irritate those who don’t believe “counter processes are possible that can create people capable of accepting differences.”

Former Soviet dictator Stalin ridiculed the Vatican’s diplomacy, claiming it had no armored divisions. The actions of John Paul II in his native Poland and throughout the Soviet bloc showed that values ​​diplomacy could be more effective than tank diplomacy.

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