A couple of days ago, a prosecuter for the UN international war crime tribunal accused the Vatican of being less than helpful
Mrs del Ponte survived a Mafia assassination attempt during her career as a Swiss federal prosecutor. She now works in The Hague, protected by armed UN guards.
As a Roman Catholic, she said she was "doubly disappointed" by the Vatican. She asked the Vatican to repudiate a recent statement by Mile Bogovic, the Bishop of Gospic and Senj, denouncing the tribunal as a "political court" determined to distort Croatia’s past, and referring to Gen Gotovina as "a symbol of victory".
Archbishop Lajolo told her that the Holy See had no direct authority over individual bishops.
She added: "Mgr Lajolo said to me: ‘Let me know in which monastery Gotovina is hiding.’ I said, if I knew, I would not be here in Rome."
Mrs del Ponte finally wrote to the Pope directly. Several weeks later, she has received no reply.
At the Vatican, Monsignor Maurizio Bravi, the private secretary to Archbishop Lajolo, confirmed that the meeting with Mrs del Ponte had taken place. But he said: "I cannot give you any information on this."
Back in The Hague, Mrs del Ponte was asked if she felt the Church was motivated by historic links to the Croatian nationalist cause or out of a desire to avoid the secular world. "I don’t want to envisage an answer to your question," she said. "But my disappointment is big."
Yesterday afternoon, with reference to an article entitled "Vatican accused of shielding ‘war criminal’" that appeared in the Daily Telegraph newspaper on September 20, 2005, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls issued the following declaration to journalists. The article concerned accusations that the Vatican is shielding General Ante Gotovina, suspected of having committed war crimes during the conflict in former Yugoslavia:
"During the meeting between Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, secretary for Relations with States, and Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in response to her request for information and support, Archbishop Lajolo made it clear that the Secretariat of State is not an organ of the Holy See that can collaborate institutionally with the tribunals.
"Archbishop Lajolo also requested Ms. Del Ponte to specify with some precision the evidence leading her to believe that General Ante Gotovina had taken refuge in certain religious buildings in Croatia, in order to be able to enter into contact with the competent ecclesiastical authorities; earlier investigations had, in fact, yielded negative results. Archbishop Lajolo’s request has not yet received any response from Ms. Del Ponte."
Read Previous Post
