Pope Shortens Audience List
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
ROME – The Vatican has sharply cut back the number of political audiences to prevent the Pope being exploited by visiting politicians looking for headlines.
From now on, only heads of government and heads of state will be granted an audience with the pontiff.
A set of tough new rules has been drafted to protect 79-year-old Pope Benedict XVI from the flood of requests that arrive daily.
Italian politicians are always desperate for a papal endorsement. Before the general election last month, the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and leaders of his party visited the Pope. Now Mr. Berlusconi is the leader of the opposition, he will no longer be welcome.
The Vatican outlined the rules in a letter to papal nuncios, its ambassadors abroad. One month’s notice is needed and meetings will be restricted to Friday and Saturday mornings. If there are several heads of state in Rome for a summit, they will meet the Pope at the same time.
