Kissinger in conclave at Vatican

Published: 30 April 2007

"Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is staying at the Vatican's Domus Sanctae Marthae - residence of the conclave cardinals who elected Pope Benedict - while he participates in a Holy See seminar on charity and justice.

Catholic News Service reports that Mary Ann Glendon, a US law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, invited Kissinger to speak at the academy's 27 April - 1 May plenary session.

The academy, which advises the Vatican on social issues, was to focus on "Charity and Justice in the Relations Among Peoples and Nations."

The meeting was to be the last in a series - held over the past 13 years - focusing on economic, social and legal issues tied to the theme of globalisation.

Glendon told reporters that Kissinger was invited after he was included on an academy members' list of "experts, some with scholarly expertise, some with practical experience with the problems" the academy faces.

The academy listens to the experts "the way, let's say, a congressional committee sometimes hears testimony," she said.

"We are not looking for guidance from people who come before us to testify," but "we do want the benefit of the great expertise and experience" the guests can offer, she said.

Dr Glendon said Kissinger, like the other guest speakers and experts, waived his usual speaking fee and expressed interest in participating in the meeting, not simply stopping by to give a speech.

And, she said, he accepted the invitation the Vatican extends to guest speakers to stay within the Vatican walls in the comfortable, but by no means deluxe, Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Kissinger, the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize winner, was scheduled to speak 28 April on "Current International Trends and World Peace.""

https://www.cathnews.com/cathnews/12792-kissinger-in-conclave-at-vatican

Neo-conservatism at the Vatican? Kissinger to become Political

Adviser to Pope Benedict XVI

Global Research, December 01, 2006

National Catholic Register 1 December 2006

"Pope Benedict XVI has invited Henry Kissinger, former adviser to Richard Nixon, to be a political consultant and he accepted."

November 26-December 2, 2006 Issue

VATICAN CITY — Over the course of his long and controversial career, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has had many titles. Now he reportedly has one more — adviser to the Pope.

According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Benedict XVI has invited the 83-year-old former adviser to Richard Nixon to be a political consultant, and Kissinger has accepted.

Quoting an “authoritative” diplomatic source at the Holy See, the paper reported Nov. 4 that the Nobel laureate was asked at a recent private audience with the Holy Father to form part of a papal “advisory board” on foreign and political affairs.

As the Register went to press, Kissinger’s office was unable to confirm or deny the report. La Stampa stood by its story, although the Italian press is less rigorous in its authentication of stories as is the United States Press.

If true, there is speculation on which issues Kissinger would advise the Holy Father. Relations with Islam, Palestine and Israel, and Iraq — Kissinger has been critical of the conduct of the war but opposes a quick withdrawal — are likely to be high up on the agenda.

It has also been speculated that, in view of the Muslim hostility to Benedict’s recent Regensburg speech, Kissinger might provide advice on dealing with an increasingly fractious Islamic world.

Furthermore, like the Pope, Kissinger has analyzed the challenges of globalization and might provide advice in this area as well.

“The idea [of his appointment] sounds like a good one,” said veteran Vatican journalist Sandro Magister. “But so would it also be to consult other experts on geopolitics with different orientations.”

As possible expert advisers with different perspectives, Magister listed Catholic philosopher and former diplomat Michael Novak; Bernard Lewis, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University; and foreign policy experts such as Charles Kupchan and G. John Ikenberry."

https://www.globalresearch.ca/neo-conservatism-at-the-vatican-kissinger-to-become-political-adviser-to-pope-benedict-xvi/4022

The Kissinger cables[1] are 1.7 million United States diplomatic

and intelligence records dating from 1973 to 1976 that WikiLeaks republished in April 2013. At the time Henry Kissinger was the United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissinger_cables