Pope says, Holy See’s diplomat is essentially a priest in the service of the Word, Pope

(June 10, 2011) The role of the Holy See’s ambassador or diplomat is essentially that of a priest or bishop in the service of the Word of God and the Successor of Peter in order to build communion among people and strengthen peaceful and supportive relations. Pope Benedict XVI made the remark on Friday to the staff and students of the Vatican’s Pontifical Ecclesiatical Academy, which trains Holy See’s ambassador or Apostolic Nuncios, Apostolic Delegates, Permanent Observers, and all those who serve in Papal Embassies around the world. The Pope explained that the role of a diplomat is erroneously associated with craftiness or attitudes that speak of the degeneration of the diplomatic practice. On the other hand, the Pope explained, the acceptance of an ambassador means laying the foundations of the possibility of peaceful coexistence where as far as possible there is respect for the sensibilities and opinions of others. As a diplomat, Pope Benedict explained, a priest or a bishop in the service of the Word of God is required to make a lifetime commitment to echo the Gospel message entrusted to him. In carrying his mission, the Holy See’s diplomat needs to muster all his human and supernatural qualities in order to strike a delicate balance between his spiritual life, the practice of human virtues and solid cultural formation. The service to the Successor of Peter, whom Christ established as the permanent principle and basis of the visible unity of faith and communion, allows the Holy See’s ambassador to live in constant and profound reference to the Catholicity of the Church, the Pope added.