Vatican Hints on Revitalizing Talks over Failed Treaty with Georgia

In a message to the Georgian government, Pope John Paul II stressed the need for a “constructive dialogue” between the Catholic Church and the government of the predominantly Orthodox Georgia, the Catholic World News reported on March 9.

The message from Pope John Paul II was handed over to Georgia?s new Ambassador to the Holy See Ketevan Bagrationi by Cardinal Angelo Sodano in the Vatican.

Georgia’s small Catholic community wishes to work “in a spirit of collaboration and full respect” with and for the Orthodox majority, the Pope said and urged the necesscity of a “constructive dialogue” that would lead to the Georgian government?s recognition of the Catholic Church contributions, particularly in the fields of education, health care and social services.

By this statement, the Holy See makes a clear reference to the necessity of revitalizing talks between the Vatican and the Georgian government over an agreement envisaging guarantees of religious freedom and legal rights for Catholics in Georgia, which the Georgian government refused to sign two years ago.

In September 2003, former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze made a last minute decision not to sign this agreement with the Vatican after a mass protest rally took place in Tbilisi, backed by the Georgian Orthodox Church. 

As a result, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, then Secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with Foreign States, who arrived in Tbilisi to sign this agreement, had to leave Georgia empty-handedly.

In his letter to the Georgian government the Pope John Paul II also said that religion must never be used as a pretext for violence or hostility.