From 2007:

"But Iran, which has had diplomatic relations with the Holy See for 53 years, may be trying to line up Benedict as an ace in the hole for staving off a potential attack in the coming months. "The Vatican seems to be part of their strategy," a senior Western diplomat in Rome said of the Iranian leadership. "

Iran has a surprisingly large diplomatic corps at the Vatican (only the Dominican Republic has more diplomats accredited to the Holy See) who have a monthly meeting with papal advisers.

But other unofficial discussions, in trattorias and cafes and a variety of Church institutions, are a constant part of the diplomatic workings in Rome. And over recent months, the conversations have centered on the looming showdown over Iran's nuclear program.

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1687445,00.html

https://cruxnow.com/church/2016/01/26/the-bond-between-the-vatican-and-iran-is-a-partnership-destined-to-endure/

>>6758304 /lb

>A high school kid can do it with the right book

Mining REs is relatively simple – but producing individual elements from the ore is tremendously difficult. Rare Earth processing often requires dozens of procedures – each resulting in minute changes in the complex RE stream. Separating and extracting a single Rare Earth Element– especially one of the Heavy Rare Earths – takes a great deal of time, effort and expertise. Not to mention money – processing facilities cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build.

It is clear that while mining material containing REEs isn’t all that complicated, processing the stuff is about as far from simple as you can get. This is particularly true with Heavy Rare Earths such as dysprosium, terbium and yttrium. The complex metallurgical technologies have taken decades to evolve, and each RE deposit presents its own unique challenges for separating and extracting. As a result, it can take many years for scientists to crack the geological code and design appropriate metallurgic processes for each RE stream.

https://www.kitco.com/ind/Kidela/may102011.html

>>6758589

Let me ponder on that a moment…

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/10/26/pope-meets-venezuelan-leader-called-opposition-devil/

https://www.arabianbusiness.com/culture-society/412576-uae-leaders-receive-pope-francis-as-religions-come-together

>>6758729

>WHO BOUGHT THE OFFERING?

>>6758797

UAE visit was in February of this year.

>>6758912

Good questions. Certainly plenty of playacting going on.