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Catholic diplomacy to Italian marines’ rescue

By Cithara Paul - NEW DELHI

Published: 17th Mar 2013 09:53:38 AM

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The unsaid irony in the Italian marines controversy is that the two fishermen who were killed were Catholics and so were the accused. PTI photo

A little faith goes a long way. The unsaid irony in the Italian Marines controversy is that the two fishermen who were killed were Catholics and so were the accused.



Express has learnt that ‘Catholic diplomacy’— secret visits by priests from Rome, flip flops by a powerful cardinal from Kerala, the role played by a former Indian ambassador to Italy who reportedly connected all the players including the Union Government and the Catholic Church — might have played a decisive role in the ‘home delivery’ of the two Italian marines, and is now engaged in bringing out an amicable end to the contested issue that has affected diplomatic relations between both countries.



“The Italians may have cocked a snook at us by refusing to hand over the two marines. But it has also given Indians a lesson or two in ‘Catholic diplomacy’. When normal routes of diplomacy fail, try the ‘faith’ route,’’ said an MEA official.



And no one represents this underplay of faith and intercession than the Syro-Malabar Church Major Archbishop — Cardinal George Alencherry.



It may have been a sheer coincidence that Alencherry was in Rome on February 25, when the Italian Government went back on its Ambassador’s promise to the Indian Government on the return of the Marines for trial. He was there to select the new Pope, but his presence there brought some old memories back – ones that the Catholic Church would prefer to forget.



It was Alenchery, head of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Church-India’s largest and richest Catholic church, who had made the controversial statement that he will try his best to “pacify the situation’’.



The Sunday Standard