Pope Francis has had an eventful decade in the chair of Peter, but one aspect of his papal ministry may have gone relatively overlooked: his diplomacy.
Victor Gaetan wants to change that. He’s written a book on Pope Francis’s diplomatic efforts, and spoke about some of his findings during a talk, “Ten Years of Pope Francis’s Diplomacy: A Hidden Strength,” at Holy Trinity Parish in Washington, D.C. March 12, one day before the 10th anniversary of the pope’s election as supreme pontiff.
Gaetan, who lives in Washington, pointed to the Holy Father’s diplomacy across the globe during his remarks.
Pope Francis’s efforts may have borne the most fruit in South Sudan, which saw violence and destitution within two years after it broke off from Sudan in 2011.
“The president of South Sudan approached him and said, ‘Please do something, please bring us peace.’ This was in 2015,” said Gaetan, author of “God’s Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy, and America’s Armageddon.” In the strife, 600,000 were killed and millions fled.
The appeal must have struck a chord in the pope, who – while in his native Argentina – responded “where there was violence, where there was suffering, and to defend minorities which were suppressed in majority-other type of religions,” Gaetan said.
“The dialogue became immediately between representatives of the Holy See and this extraordinary body of the Vatican, Sant’ Egidio, and the various groups that were in the civil war,” Gaetan said.
It led to the 2019 invitation to the Vatican by the pope of the leaders at war in South Sudan. “After three days of prayers and mediation, we have this very moving image of where Pope Francis fell to his knees to kiss the feet of the warlords and asked them to please make peace, make a unity government. “If you can do that,” the pope said, “I will try to come and visit Sudan” – which he did las month, Gaetan noted. “That unity government has held.”
One element Gaetan called “emphatic” during Pope Francis’s papacy is “mediation between different secular states,” citing Cuba as an example.
“In the United States’ view; Cuba has to be punished,” Gaetan said. “They’d been negotiating in secrecy for more than a year and there was much mistrust. (Then-President Barack) Obama visited the pepe” and asked Pope Francis to intervene, “to help the negotiators bring about a deal He did. He invited the teams to the Vatican ... which resulted in a deal, reciprocal recognition, recognition of 40 bishops and exchange of 40 prisoners in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.”
And despite this diplomatic minor miracle, Gaetan said, “it would not have been known if President Obama had not publicly thanked the pope.”
Part of that, he added, comes from just being there. “Despite the heaviest repression of the Catholic Church, there was always someone in Cuba, a nuncio,” according to Gaetan, who noted the Vatican maintains more embassies than the United States.
To that end, Pope Francis has adopted the modus operandi of the Vatican’s diplomatic corps. “They love secrecy,” Gaetan said. “As priests, they are discreet. They don’t brag.”
That could account for the still-unseen agreement between the Vatican and China. First adopted in 2018 as a provisional agreement, it was renewed both in 2020 and 2022. “It’s a work in progress,” Gaetan said, but “the result is that six bishops have been appointed, approved by both the (Chinese) regime and by Pope Francis.”
Pope Francis has also deepened the Vatican’s commitment to dialogue with the Muslim world, with trips to Palestine in 2014, Egypt in 2017, the United Arab Emirates in 2019; Iraq in 2021 and Bahrain last year. This year, bilateral relations were established with Oman.
Ukraine, however, is a “diplomatic fail,” Gaetan. “Not for the Vatican, for the secular powers.”
Pope Francis has “addressed Russia as the invader, as the aggressor,” Gaetan said. He also, on a Zoom call with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, famously told the patriarch, “You don’t have to be (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s altar boy” and more, according to Gaetan. “Of course, it was very badly received by Patriarch Kirill. That stung the channels of communication between Pope Francis and Kirill.”
Asked what is distinct to Pope Francis compared to other diplomats, Gaetan replied, “First, Pope Francis is a Jesuit. He’s a bishop. The Jesuit order was created by the pope in order to serve the pope throughout the world. Then Francis has the charism of Jesuits.”
He added, “He became the youngest Jesuit provincial in Argentina for two consecutive terms, six years. Then he was appointed bishop of Buenos Aires and then a cardinal. Another unique-to-him dimension: He was situated in the leadership of the Latin American (Catholic bishops’ conference),” which consists of 46 countries with 377 million Catholics, about one-third the world’s total.
“When he came to Europe,” Gaetan said, “he had already benefited from the experience.”
