The Vatican says it is closely following the case of an Iranian woman sentenced to
death by stoning for adultery and may pursue diplomacy to intervene on the woman’s
behalf.
In a statement Sunday, the Vatican press spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi
said “The Holy See is following the case “with attention and participation.”
The
comments by the director of the Holy See’s Press Office follow an appeal for Vatican
and Italian intervention by Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s son to save his mother’s
life.
Fr. Lombardi said “The Church’s position against the death penalty is
well-known and stoning is a particularly brutal form of it.”
In the past,
Pontiffs have appealed for clemency on behalf of death row prisoners in the U.S.,
Lebanon and other countries.
“When the request for intervention is appropriately
made regarding humanitarian issues pertaining to authorities of other states, as has
happened many times in the past,” Sunday's statement continues, “the Vatican does
so through its diplomatic channels rather than publicly.”
The Holy See and
the Islamic Republic have for years been engaged in dialogue on diplomatic and cultural
levels.
In receiving Iran's new Ambassador to the Holy See in October 2009,
Pope Benedict lauded the country as a “grand Nation which possesses eminent spiritual
traditions” and whose people are blessed with “profound religious sensitivity.”
The
Holy See, the Pope continued, “will always be ready to work in harmony with those
who serve the cause of peace and promote the dignity with which the Creator has invested
every human being. Today, we must all aspire to and sustain a new phase of international
cooperation, ever more solidly founded on humanitarian principles and on the effective
assistance to those who suffer..”