Vatican planning to raise flag at UN gates ahead of Pope’s speech

PanARMENIAN.Net - In a policy reversal that hints at the delicate diplomacy ahead of the visit by Pope Francis, the Vatican’s envoy to the United Nations said on Monday, September 21, that the flag of the Holy See would be hoisted at the UN gates for the first time, just before the pope addresses world leaders, the New York Times reports.

The Holy See is one of two nonmember observer states at the United Nations. The state of Palestine is the other, and it campaigned vigorously for the right to hoist its flag this year, ultimately winning a General Assembly resolution on Sept. 10, to the dismay of Israel and the United States.

Asked then if the Holy See planned to hoist its own flag, the Vatican ambassador, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, told reporters: “Absolutely not.”

On Monday, at a press briefing at the Holy See’s permanent mission, the archbishop said the Vatican had changed its position, after a nudge from the office of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The archbishop would not say who exactly had given the nudge, only that it was not Ban.

The Holy See flag will be raised on Friday morning, when the pope addresses the General Assembly. There will be no ceremony, the archbishop said.