Sandro Magister on Efforts to Eject the Holy See from the United Nations

Sandro Magister writes in Chiesa:

... The idea of expelling the Holy See from the concert of nations is not new. Since 1995, “Catholics for a Free Choice” has tried to do this through petitions signed by various countries. The American group is led by a former religious sister, Frances Kissling, but it’s Catholic in name only – more than that, it’s been officially excommunicated by the bishops of the United States. The campaign was called “See Change,” and it was aimed at expelling the Holy See from the United Nations.

The reasons advanced in support of expulsion were the same ones that “The Economist” has now brought back to light: the Catholic Church is the only religion in the world that sits at the UN as a permanent observer, with “privileges” similar to those of sovereign nations; it thus represents an anomaly that moreover foments disagreement; if the Church strives to bring peace to Burundi, that’s unobjectionable, but when it opposes abortion and euthanasia, no, it is not right that in order to support its own interests it should make use of an international juridical status that doesn’t truly belong to it.

It is no accident that the campaign for the expulsion of the Holy See from the UN heated up after the international conference in Cairo in 1994, on population, and the following conference in Beijing, on women. At both conferences, the Vatican delegation played an effective role of opposition to the pro-abortion policies promoted by the UN itself, and by the major Western powers.

Apart from life and the family, another issue on which the Holy See becomes a “sign of contradiction” – as archbishop Mamberti recalled – is religious freedom.

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It follows that the campaign to eject the Holy See from the UN is not motivated by what the Holy See is, but by what it does.