Vatican Officials React Coldly to Gore's Nobel Prize

A few weeks ago, there was quite a bit of buzz in the Catholic blogosphere revolving around a story that the Vatican had allegedly given Secretary of State Rice the cold shoulder in rebuffing her desire to meet with the Pope. Maybe the story's accurate; maybe it isn't.

But there seems to be no getting around the chilly reception with which news of Al Gore's being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was greeted by some Vatican insiders. Rich Leonardi has the story:

CNS's John Thavis explains there is no love lost between the Holy See and our prize-winning former vice president:

The Vatican has a long memory, and that helps explain its less-than-enthusiastic response to Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The day Gore was announced as a winner, the Vatican newspaper covered the story in a single sentence, buried on an inside page.

Then at a Catholic meeting in Pisa last Friday, Cardinal Renato Martino let slip a rather caustic remark. “Allow me to express well-founded puzzlement over how and to whom the Nobel Peace Prizes are assigned – even if they have gone to very worthy people in previous years.” Ouch. He never mentioned Gore by name, but the message was clear...

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Ouch! is an understatement. That's going to leave a mark.