By Linda Bordoni

She’s smart, she’s with it, she’s the youngest ambassador the Vatican has ever welcomed to be part of its diplomatic corps… her name is Chiara Porro, and she is the new Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.

Speaking to Vatican Radio as she goes about “settling in” and learning the ropes in a new and challenging environment, 36-year-old Ambassador Porro told me she also happened to be one of the first to be received by Pope Francis in a person-to-person meeting after months of coronavirus lockdown.

“That’s possibly why he was so generous with his time,” she modestly said, recalling her audience with the Pope in August when she presented her credentials. 

When I asked her what her priorities are as she begins her mandate to nurture and strengthen the bilateral relationship between the Holy See and Australia, the Ambassador said that right now, “It’s difficult to set out any priorities without thinking of the coronavirus context, as this pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives.”

Coronavirus response

Ambassador Porro, who is trained as a career diplomat and already has a good number of postings under her belt, is the only resident ambassador to the Holy See from the whole Pacific region. She is convinced that Australia has much to contribute to the global coronavirus response, and that, she said, is one of her top priorities as she begins to “think and work with the Holy See.”

She mentioned how early in the crisis, Australia very quickly pivoted its development assistance to the most urgent needs of the weakest, immediately setting up humanitarian corridors throughout the region with which to provide support.

“As you can imagine the small Pacific island countries are very dependent on supplies coming in from outside, and with travel shutdown, there was a real need for food, medicines,” she said, explaining that the Australian government also put a lot of resources into providing PPE and training for health workers, as well as working with all the countries of the region affected by travel restrictions.

Migration

Another area in which the ambassador is convinced her country has much experience to share concerns specific mobility programmes for people on the move, a humanitarian sector Pope Francis has close to his heart.

“They call it the Seasonal Work Programme and this has been going on for years, but it was particularly relevant during the pandemic because we were able to pivot and have some of these workers work in aged care and other health care sectors,” making it, she said, “a real mechanism to enable opportunities.”

Thanks to this system, she said workers can get visas to work with various sectors while directing those resources to where they are most needed thus allowing everyone to benefit. It also shows local populations that there is a need for migrants to come in and support the economy, she added. 

Human trafficking

Ambassador Porro said that amongst her meetings and contacts with various Vatican offices so far, she has met with the Covid-19 Commission established by the Pope and had interesting conversations, particularly with the Dicastery for Promoting Human Integral Development, where she engaged in conversations regarding the suffering of migrants and refugees. 

The fight against human trafficking is another area in which she says the Holy See and Australia can productively work together, as “Australia has put a lot of effort into stopping people smuggling” she said, admitting its methods have sometimes been controversial. “But we were able to break the cycle and I think that’s a positive thing.”

Above all, the ambassador said, she is excited to be able to have the opportunity to work with the Holy See and its global diplomatic network that provides so much scope in working to promote values like the common good and human fraternity.

Especially in light of a post-pandemic world, she said, and at a time in which we see increasing tensions and nationalism, “it is absolutely fundamental” to uphold those basic principles and values. 

The Holy See and Australia

On the other hand, the Holy See, she said, is very interested in watching how Australia manages its relationships and how it plays its role in the region.

Ambassador Porro noted the strategic and delicate position of Australia and its Pacific partners that are currently  “right at the centre of the China-US dynamic” and she explained that her country has a complex role to play as it finds itself at the centre of global politics.

Another perspective that is of interest, in particular to the Pope, she said, is the fact that the Pacific is a “frontier” region and its populations are directly and powerfully affected by environmental issues.

“I think there’s a real space for a Pacific voice here, and that also links-in with the fifth anniversary of Laudato sì”, she said.

Ultimately, Ambassador Porro explained, she sees her job as providing a link to her area of concern, “facilitating connections, bringing expertise from our region, finding avenues for collaborations, for projects, translating some of the Holy See’s policies and agendas and seeing where they align.”

Particularly with Pope Francis, she said, there are lots of opportunities to do things together on the global stage, and while there may be sensitive issues and areas where the Australian government and the Holy See don’t agree, there are is much work to be done.

An important mission for Australia

And from the opposite perspective, the Ambassador is convinced her government cares deeply about this mission and finds it important. She revealed it is part of her role to demonstrate the value of having a presence here at the Holy See and to communicate the influence of Pope Francis and his message across the world and the Pacific region.

It’s only a half-joke, she noted, when she says “it’s the post with the largest diaspora” because of the number of Catholic communities back in Australia and across the Pacific region who, she said, “are very interested in what she is doing here.”

“So there’s definitely still a role for me to explain our purpose and the value we bring from being represented here, but there are lots of opportunities for work.” It’s a question, she concluded, “about prioritising and really focusing on where we can add value.”

By Vatican News

While the pandemic “has skimmed off everything that is not essential” in the world’s richest countries, in others it risks becoming the trigger for a very serious crisis, especially in places where the coronavirus’ problems only add to others like hunger, war and instability. In a paired interview, two experts of the Vatican’s Covid-19 Commission – Maryann Cusimano Love (The Catholic University of America) and Dan Plesch (director of the “Centre for International Studies & Diplomacy at SOAS”) – explore various scenarios created by the coronavirus in areas where social inequalities are further exacerbated, and call for a global ceasefire as invoked by Pope Francis and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Q: You are part of the Vatican COVID 19 Commission, Pope Francis’s response mechanism to an unprecedented virus. What do you personally hope to learn from this experience? In what way do you think the Commission’s work can inspire society as a whole?

Cusimano Love – Global problems require global cooperation. We have more people on the planet than ever before in human history. So we must create better ways of cooperating than ever before to meet crises like this pandemic. Pope Francis’s Covid-19 commission is a model of global cooperation at a time when many in the world are going in the opposite direction, closing borders, not being inclusive or not prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable.

Plesch – It’s a huge honour and a privilege to be part of Pope Francis’s commission looking at the responses, the security responses to the terrible developing dangers coming from Covid-19. The work of the commission has been immensely informative to me personally. I’ve learnt a great deal from the wisdom and compassion and practical ideas of my fellow commissioners. And I think one of the key lessons that we have to communicate is that the virus is making worse many existing threats to our safety.

Q: Pope Francis asked the COVID 19 Commission to prepare the future instead of prepare for it. What should be the Catholic Church’s role as an institution in this endeavour?

Cusimano Love – Pope Francis warned us that this economy kills and the pandemic showed this to be true. We cannot go back to the old ways of doing business. For example, we can stop investing over a trillion dollars in new nuclear weapons when money is urgently needed for food and health.

Plesch – The church’s role in helping shape and develop the future has always been extremely important, but the combination of threats that we had before from environment, from greed, from poverty, from World War, from weapons – all of these are coming together in a perfect storm that we have to help prepare humanity to survive.

Q: What personal lessons (if any) have you derived from the experience of the pandemic? What concrete changes do you hope to see after this crisis both personally and globally?

Cusimano Love – The pandemic has shorn away non-essentials and forced us to focus on what really matters. With my children schooling at home while I’m teleworking at home and caring for elders, we spend more time in family and in nature. Nature has rebounded in the pandemic showing us it’s never too late to do the right thing. Our economies and our workplaces can and must promote healthier, richer relationships with each other and the earth.

Plesch – The changes we need to see of course are huge and pre-existing, but the priority, I personally think that we have to ask our governments, our communities, our churches and our colleagues in other spiritual communities simply to stop making weapons, the drive to war – 2 trillion dollars a year being spent around the world on weapons –is already  great. And we can see violence in the home and violence in communities and violence between governments already increasing.

Q: The coronavirus crisis has brought not only individual but also national selfish attitudes. This type of nationalism sparks dangerous feelings of anger towards others, even if they too have a nationalist bent. History is unfortunately full of such examples that have led to conflicts. Does this risk exist today?

Cusimano Love – You can’t build peace on an empty stomach. The pandemic has disrupted global food supplies, and it’s caused an economic depression making food too expensive for millions, further endangering the world’s most vulnerable people including refugees and displaced people. Previous global recessions caused food riots. To avert that this time around food assistance must be given across conflict lines to reduce the chances for violence. Glaring inequalities, worsen grievance and violence.

Plesch – The explosion impact of the virus has happened, but we have yet to see the tsunami of social impact and helping prepare for that by reducing weapons and looking for other means of security is essential.

Q: Regarding those who today suffer from hunger: how willing are they to fight for access to healthcare? In various African countries, people say they prefer Covid to hunger. Could the combination of the two, pandemic and hunger, be a dangerous spark?

Cusimano Love – Disease can cause war and conflict. Research shows that countries caught in the conflict trap, cycles of war and conflict and revenge need economic growth to break out of these cycles of violence. But instead the pandemic has done the opposite. It’s tanked the global economy. For conflict countries who depend on oil income, like Nigeria, Iraq and others, these countries now with no budget to build peace among warring groups, to implement the peace accords in Colombia, or buy back guns, or offer jobs to armed actors. Peace doesn’t occur magically. It’s built over time by patient effort. But the pandemic disrupts peace building resources and efforts. It has increased violent nationalist and extremist movements as Covid disinformation and conspiracy theories targets kids scapegoats.

Plesch – The interaction, of course, the interaction of hunger and the virus and poverty mean that more people are going to be fighting for survival, fighting for the bare necessities of life. And the tragedy is that the wealthy have more than enough resources to provide what everybody needs. It is beyond obscene that a tiny proportion of the world’s population control so much of the wealth and hold on to, it while many are in peril of their lives for themselves and their families.

Q: Pope Francis and Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, have launched a ceasefire appeal wherever there are conflicts in the world, in order to foster the fight against the coronavirus. Why have these appeals not been heeded?

Cusimano Love – As the United Nations meets in New York in September, the UN secretary-general and Pope Francis are renewing calls for a global ceasefire so communities can focus their efforts on fighting the pandemic, not each other. There’s been too little attention, public awareness and government leadership on the ceasefire. The upcoming 75th anniversary of the UN is a great opportunity to draw more attention and commitment to the call for a pandemic ceasefire. Peace has been breaking out around the world in recent decades. With declines in major wars and peace accords in places like Ireland, Colombia and the Philippines. But these peace processes are fragile and many countries remain trapped in cycles of war, poverty and instability, such as Iraq, Sudan the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria. Pandemic responses must be conflict sensitive ensuring that vaccines, medicine, food aid and assistance begin across conflict lines in ways that build community, social cohesion, trust and peace

Plesch – The challenge of a ceasefire is one that I think will be responded to. The Holy Father and the UN Secretary-General have led the way in this. We have to make the call louder and louder and as the social impact of the virus unfolds over the years, I think the demand to move away from conflict will become more and more effective.

Q: Several times, even well before the pandemic, Pope Francis has often spoken of a “third world war fought piecemeal”. So, in your opinion, should we fear another worldwide conflict provoked by an invisible virus, or has one already effectively begun that we should be dedicating ourselves to extinguishing?

Cusimano Love – The Catholic Church can help us imagine and build a better world coming out of this pandemic: one in which we are more connected, more caring, in better relationship with each other. As scripture says, “See, I’m doing something new in you. Can you not see it?” The Catholic Church is not a national church. We work across borders in every country. We work with very long timelines to go beyond the next headliner election, and we are the world’s largest private provider of healthcare. Thus, we are all one human family. But too often we act like a dysfunctional family. Against a rising tide of nationalism and extremism, the Church imagines and prepares a future based on a wider view of our connections as one human family.

Plesch – Now, the threats of a third world war: we see people dying all the time from the use of weapons, war planes on villages, small arms, landmines, rifles, but overall of that is the  ultimate “Sword of Damocles” the nuclear threat and I think  if there’s one thing we’ve learnt is that there are no  group of wise people who will emerge in crises to help solve it. We’ve seen it in country after country: our leaders are flawed, the lies they tell are great and the consequences for all of us if this moves into the dimension of major war with armies, navies and air forces and nuclear weapons – that risk cannot be overestimated. It is a very real one and I hope in working with the commission we can do our bit to keep us safe and secure for the future because these conflicts are unnecessary and obscure the tremendous opportunities for the beneficial integrated development of humanity.

By Vatican News staff writer

Addressing Qu Dongyu, the Director-General of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Pope Francis noted that “For humanity, hunger is not only a tragedy but it is also shameful.”

His words came on World Food Day which focuses this year on the theme: “cultivating, nourishing and preserving together. Our actions are our future”.

We are all responsible

In his video message, the Pope said hunger is caused, “to a large extent, by an unequal distribution of the fruits of the earth, in addition to the lack of investment in agriculture, the consequences of climate change and the increase in conflicts in different parts of the planet”, as well as by the tonnes of food that are discarded.

Faced with this reality, he continued, “we cannot remain insensitive or paralysed” because “we are all responsible.”

The Pope added that the theme underlines the urgent need for everyone to act together so as to “promote hope” in all people.

75th anniversary of FAO

The World Day also marks the UN Organisation’s 75 anniversary.

In these many years, the Pope said, FAO has learned that it is not enough to just produce food, but that “it is also important to ensure that food systems are sustainable and offer healthy diets that are accessible to all. It is about adopting innovative solutions that can transform the way we produce and consume food for the well-being of our communities and our planet, thereby strengthening resilience and long-term sustainability.”

Support during the pandemic

Especially in these difficult times caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis stressed the importance of supporting initiatives that “promote sustainable and diversified agriculture, support small farming communities and cooperate in rural development in the poorest countries.”

We are living in a time “full of contradictions”, said the Pope.

On the one hand, we are witnessing unprecedented progress in different fields of science. On the other, the world is facing multiple humanitarian crises.

Unfortunately, he continued, we note that, according to the most recent FAO statistics, despite the efforts made in recent decades, “the number of people fighting hunger and food insecurity is growing, and the current pandemic will make these figures even worse.”

Concrete action

Pope Francis went on to note that the current crisis shows us that we need concrete policies and actions to eradicate hunger in the world.

At times, he said, “dialectical or ideological debates distance us from achieving this goal and we allow our brothers and sisters to continue to die from lack of food.”

“A courageous decision would be to set up a “Global Fund” with the money used in arms and other military expenditures in order to definitively eliminate hunger and contribute to the development of the poorest countries. This would avoid many wars and the emigration of many of our brothers and sisters and their families who are forced to leave their homes and countries in search of a more dignified life (cf. Fratelli tutti, n. 189 and 262).”

Finally, Pope Francis expressed his hope that the activity of FAO be “ever more incisive and more fruitful”, and prayed for all those who “cooperate in this fundamental mission of cultivating the land, feeding the hungry and safeguarding natural resources, so that we can all live with dignity, respect and love.”

By Vatican News staff writer

Traditionally celebrated on the penultimate Sunday of October, World Mission Day is slated this year for 18 October.

The annual day is set aside to encourage prayers, cooperation and help for missions, as well as remind Christians of the fundamental missionary character of the Church and of every baptized person.

Mission to others

Ahead of this year’s celebrations, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Mission Societies for the Propagation of the Faith (PMS) organized a press conference held on Friday at the Holy See Press Office.

“Today we present the Holy Father Pope Francis’s Message for World Mission Day on Sunday, 18 October 2020 entitled, ‘Here I am, send me,'” said Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

“The heart of this message refers to how the mission challenges each one of us, personally, in our vocation and in our belonging to the Church in today’s world,” he added.

Archbishop Rugambwa explained that the celebration is a source of joy for the Church in spite of the challenges caused by the ongoing health crisis which has made us realize that we are all “in the same boat, all fragile and disoriented”..

Therefore, as baptized Christians, we are to respond to God’s call to go and transform all areas of life and society by our witness to the Gospel.

Covid-19 fund

Archbishop Giampietro Dal Toso, the Adjunct Secretary for the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the President of the PMS, spoke about a Special Emergency Fund set up by Pope Francis in April 2020 in order for the PMS to help communities affected by Covid-19.

He said the fund supports the missionary action of the Church, and encouraged Churches throughout the world to collaborate in this universal fund where “all contribute to the good of all.”

Stressing that there is still a lot to be done, Archbishop Dal Toso appreciated the generous donations from Churches in different countries and highlighted some other concrete examples of need in various places.

Vital lifeline for missionary Churches

Fr. Tadeusz J. Nowak, O.M.I., General Secretary of the PMS, said the Pontifical Mission Society provides vital support to particular Churches in Asia, Oceania, Africa, and parts of South and Latin America.

This support, he explained, goes towards formation programs for catechists, priests and religious and it also helps with material aid for their work of evangelization in local churches.

Venerable Pauline Marie Jaricot

Fr. Nowak pointed out that the celebrations this year are special for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith because, in May, Pope Francis approved a miracle through the intercession of its foundress, Venerable Pauline Marie Jaricot.

The miracle, he explained, involved a little girl who experienced acute suffocation which resulted in her losing consciousness and having to be kept alive by artificial life support. After a novena of prayers through Pauline’s intercession, the girl was revived and restored to health.

He recounted that Venerable Pauline, a Frenchwoman born in Lyon, dedicated her life to prayer, helping the poor and the Church’s mission. On 2 May, 1822, she founded the Society for the propagation of Faith, and four years later, the Association of the Living Rosary.

A century later, on 3 May, 1922, the Society was proclaimed Pontifical by Pope Pius XI and she was proclaimed venerable by Pope St. John XXIII in 1962.

Today, said Fr. Nowak, Venerable Pauline Jaricot is “an inspiration for us all, especially for the laity.” She is a “wonderful example of engaging fully the grace of Baptism for the work of the Kingdom of God and for the mission of the Church.”