Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06VATICAN40
2006-03-01 14:46:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vatican
Cable title:  

(CORRECTED COPY) HOLY SEE: VISIT OF SPANISH FOREIGN

Tags:  PREL SOCI VT SP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3493
PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHSR
DE RUEHROV #0040/01 0601446
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 011446Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0266
INFO RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 0003
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0294
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VATICAN 000040 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/1/2016
TAGS: PREL SOCI VT SP
SUBJECT: (CORRECTED COPY) HOLY SEE: VISIT OF SPANISH FOREIGN
MINISTER


VATICAN 00000040 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Christopher Sandrolini, Charge d'affaires a.i.,
EXEC, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VATICAN 000040

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/1/2016
TAGS: PREL SOCI VT SP
SUBJECT: (CORRECTED COPY) HOLY SEE: VISIT OF SPANISH FOREIGN
MINISTER


VATICAN 00000040 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Christopher Sandrolini, Charge d'affaires a.i.,
EXEC, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary. Vatican and Spanish contacts describe the
recent visit to the Holy See of Spanish Foreign Minister
Moratinos as a success which improved the tone of the bilateral
dialogue. Main topics included the forthcoming papal visit to
Valencia, church/state relations in Spain, and the Alliance of
Civilizations. Moratinos quietly sought a papal audience but
did not obtain one. End summary.


2. (C) Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos visited
the Holy See February 17, meeting with senior Vatican officials
for about an hour and a half. At the request of the Holy See,
the meeting was limited to three per side, with the Holy See
participants including Cardinal Angelo Sodano (Secretary of
State),Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo (Sostituto),and Msgr. Paolo
Gualtieri -- equivalent respectively to Prime Minister, Foreign
Minister, and Spain desk officer. Charge d'affaires discussed
the visit with Luis Belzuz de los Rios, DCM of the Spanish
Embassy to the Holy See, while Poloff got a separate readout
from Gualtieri.

--------------
Spanish perspective
--------------


3. (C) Belzuz de los Rios said the Moratinos visit originated
thanks to the efforts of the papal nuncio in Spain, Archbishop
Monteiro, and was the first official visit by Moratinos. He
characterized the visit as "very friendly" and one which marked
a change of attitude in the bilateral dialogue. There were
three principal topics of discussion: the upcoming papal visit,
church/state relations, and the Alliance of Civilizations.

-- Papal Visit: set for July 8-9 of this year in Valencia, the
visit could also include Madrid and/or Javier (birthplace of St.
Francis Xavier). It comes in response to the king's invitation
of last September. Cardinal Lopez Trujillo, head of the
Pontifical Council for the Family, will play a prominent role in
setting up the visit and the global conference on the family
which will occur at that time.

-- Church/State: Belzuz said the two sides agreed to "focus on

the future" rather than arguing over the past. He noted that
despite legislation permitting gay marriage, only 150 have
occurred so far (note: the NYT says 400); since the real issue
for the Church is protection of the family, the low number of
gay marriages suggests that perhaps a modus vivendi can be
reached. Church finances were also discussed, since the
government of Spain contributes a subsidy of 20 million euros
per year to help cover annual Church costs of 150 million euros.
Only 30 percent of Spanish taxpayers now opt to contribute to
the Church via the optional donation when filing their returns,
down from 43% when this provision was introduced at the time of
the bilateral concordat in 1979; the government is considering
raising the percentage from 0.5 percent to 0.8 percent, similar
to the Italian model. Another issue involves the Church's
exemption from value added tax in Spain, a possible violation of
EU rules; Belzuz thought Portugal had successfully resolved a
similar situation. Finally, the status of teaching of religion
in public schools was discussed. In sum, said Belzuz, all such
matters appear to be of a technical nature and eminently
resolvable.

-- Alliance of Civilizations: unfortunately there was little
time left to discuss this after the above topics were covered,
according to Belzuz. The Holy See favors the initiative but
reserves the right to speak publicly on the matter as it is
being developed.


4. (C) Belzuz said that Moratinos had hoped to see Pope Benedict
XVI; this had been raised orally by the ambassador with the
Sostituto (normally a diplomatic note is required) but without
success. This is interesting in light of the fact that both
former PM Aznar and his party successor Rajoy managed to obtain
private audiences in January of this year; Belzuz observed that
both of these had been arranged through separate channels and
did not involve his embassy.

--------------
Holy See perspective
--------------


5. (C) Gualtieri told us that he had been initially apprehensive
about the visit, having read that Moratinos might raise the
possibility of revising the concordat -- which did not arise.
He said Moratinos made no mention of his interest in a papal
audience. The Holy See was encouraged by Spain's position on
the issues of church financing, the education law, and the value
added tax. Like Belzuz, Gualtieri felt there had been a genuine
improvement in tone between the two sides.


6. (C) Gualtieri confirmed Vatican interest in the Alliance of

VATICAN 00000040 002.2 OF 002


Civilizations but said more detail would be needed before the
Holy See would comment further. On other issues, he added that
the Holy See saw room for cooperation on issues such as
immigration and "excessive populism in Latin America".


7. (C) Comment: Embassy notes the continuing strict observance
by the Holy See of its rule that Benedict XVI (in contrast to
his predecessor) will only grant official audiences to heads of
state and heads of government. Our senior European diplomatic
colleagues here were not surprised by the refusal in this case
and did not interpret it as a slight to the government of Spain.
On the other hand, the private audiences granted to Aznar and
Rajoy would seem to be indications of the Pope's favor; although
the rules are somewhat looser for private audiences than for
official ones, it remains true that the vast majority of papal
audiences are granted to religious figures rather than political
ones.
SANDROLINI