Even as the world celebrates the feast of one of France’s greatest saints, the country known as the church’s “eldest daughter” is roiled in an embarassing diplomatic mess.

From a French news service:

France has settled on an envoy to represent Paris at the Vatican after the Holy See rejected a gay candidate, a French diplomatic source told AFP on Monday.

France had earlier decided against proposing author Denis Tillinac for the post because he is divorced, sources close to the dossier said.

Instead, Stanislas Lefebvre de Laboulaye, currently France’s ambassador to Moscow, is to take up the post, the diplomatic source said.

The Beirut-born Lefebvre de Laboulaye has represented France in Moscow since November 2006, following stints as ambassador to Madagascar and consul general in Jerusalem in the 1990s.

The last French ambassador to the Holy See, Bernard Kessedjian, died in December 2007.

The gay man whose candidacy to replace Kessedjian was rejected is a career diplomat who is in a civil union with his partner, the sources said.

The Roman Catholic Church condemns both divorce and active homosexuality, and strongly opposes legal rights for gay couples.