By Carol Tanjutco, J.D.

Archbishop

His Excellency, the Most Reverend  Bernardito Auza, Titular Archbishop of Suacia, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Organization of American States talks about the arrival of Pope Francis to the US. (Photo by Carol Tanjutco)

 

One of the culture that has never been made public is the role of the Holy See in mediating conflicts. His Excellency, the Most Reverend  Bernardito Auza, Titular Archbishop of Suacia, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, speaks for the Holy Father Pope Francis during his upcoming visit to New York.

Archbishop Auza, a Filipino ordained priest for the Diocese of Tagbilaran in 1985, rose to become the Secretary of State in the Vatican and later, he was also appointed as Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Organization of American States in 2014. He compared his 6-year stint serving the  Secretariat of State in the Vatican and the role of Church in diplomacy to almost 2000 years of diplomacy during the early part of Christianity from the middle ages.

The treaty of Tordesillas, for instance, where Pope Alexander VI, one of the most controversial Renaissance popes, mediated the conflict and decided  to divide the world between Portugal and Spain creating demarcation lines. In passing, Archbishop Auza mentioned the circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magellan to the Philippines where he was killed in 1521, passing through the Atlantic going to Pacific, and around from the Indian Ocean.

In the modern times, the Holy See has been even more active in mediation, such as the mediation for the legal island between Argentina and Chile in 1981.It is not new that the Holy See facilitates mediation, as he received so many requests at the Vatican. The Holy Father uses not only the formal diplomatic channel of the Holy See but he uses a lot of local actors as key to gaining the respect and confidence of the requesting country.

As Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, Archbishop Auza emphasized the fundamental recommendation of the peace-keeping mission of United Nations to use local actors in preventing a lull or bubble in building peace. He addressed several media inquiries about the visit of Pope Francis and announced the raising of the decision to raise the Holy See flag for the first time at the UN Headquarters.

In the morning of September 25, the United Nations will raise the flag of the Holy See with no ceremony, at the same time the UN will raise the other flags that day. The flag of the Holy See has two vertical bands, one gold and one white. The white side features an image of two traversed keys, one gold and one silver, bound together by a red cord, and topped by a triple-crown or tiara crowned by a cross. The keys (Mt 16:19) and tiara are both traditional symbols of the papacy. It has been the official flag of the Holy See since 1929.