Closure highlights anomaly of Vatican’s dual claim

The Government’s decision to shut down its embassy to the Holy See is political not religious, writes TP O’Mahony

Benedict XVI delivers an Easter address at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, which occupies 108 acres in the heart of Rome. Picture: AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano

A GOOD deal of nonsense has been written about the Government’s decision to close the Irish embassy to the Holy See — much of it based on an unwillingness to distinguish between a global church and a claim by the headquarters of this Church (the Vatican) to be a sovereign state.