The Corner  The one and only.  The Pontiff and The Eurobabblers
Impossible though it may be to quote a papal condemnation of the
war in Iraq, lots of emails quoted statements against the war by
Vatican officials other than the Pontiff, notably by Cardinal
Soldano, the secretary of state, Cardinal Martino, the Vatican’s
permanent observer at the United Nations, and the former nuncio
to the United States, Cardinal Laghi. “What does it matter,” one
correspondent asked, “that the Pope himself didn’t condemn the
war if his agents did?”  It matters a lot.  No one in the Church
has any standing or authority that even approaches that of the
Pope, as Soldano, Martino, and Laghi themselves understand. Read
their anti-war statements carefully and you’ll find them making
it clear that they’re speaking for themselves or for “the
Vatican,” by which they mean the secretariat of state—that is,
the Vatican diplomatic corps—but never directly on behalf of
John Paul II.  When Church officials speak as diplomats,
moreover, the