- Feb 5, 2002
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The Vatican’s handling of prominent U.S. Catholic politicians has noticeably loosened.
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is usually wary of publicizing papal private audiences with prominent Catholics whose public life is clearly at odds with non-negotiable areas of Church teaching — a policy that was applied to an audience that was granted in 2011 to then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Details of these meetings often come to light after they take place, such as Pope Benedict XVI’s famous audience in Castel Gandolfo with dissenting Swiss theologian Father Hans Küng in 2005, or his audience the same year with the late controversial atheist author Oriana Fallaci, which was never publicly announced.
With Pope Francis, such visits have included his frequent and highly contentious encounters with the atheist Eugenio Scalfari, and various other audiences at his Vatican residence, none of which the Vatican has officially announced unless prompted by the media.
These have included his meeting with transgender Spaniard Diego Neria Lejárraga in 2015, and with the pro-abortion and pro-contraception Catholic philanthropist Melinda Gates in November 2019 — an encounter kept so secret that, to this day, the Vatican has never publicly acknowledged it.
Continued below.
Prominent Dissenting Catholics Find Open Doors, Muted Publicity at Vatican
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is usually wary of publicizing papal private audiences with prominent Catholics whose public life is clearly at odds with non-negotiable areas of Church teaching — a policy that was applied to an audience that was granted in 2011 to then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Details of these meetings often come to light after they take place, such as Pope Benedict XVI’s famous audience in Castel Gandolfo with dissenting Swiss theologian Father Hans Küng in 2005, or his audience the same year with the late controversial atheist author Oriana Fallaci, which was never publicly announced.
With Pope Francis, such visits have included his frequent and highly contentious encounters with the atheist Eugenio Scalfari, and various other audiences at his Vatican residence, none of which the Vatican has officially announced unless prompted by the media.
These have included his meeting with transgender Spaniard Diego Neria Lejárraga in 2015, and with the pro-abortion and pro-contraception Catholic philanthropist Melinda Gates in November 2019 — an encounter kept so secret that, to this day, the Vatican has never publicly acknowledged it.
Continued below.
Prominent Dissenting Catholics Find Open Doors, Muted Publicity at Vatican
