The papal nuncio personally visited Mary McAleese to ensure that a letter to Pope Francis about a decision to bar her from speaking at a Vatican conference was delivered to the Pontiff, the former president has revealed.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Mrs McAleese said the visit had been made on Archbishop Jude Okolo’s own initiative.
“It went by diplomatic bag, thanks to our excellent new nuncio, Archbishop Okolo,” she said. “He in fact came to my home to make sure the letter was collected. His decision, not mine – I didn’t ask him to do that, I was perfectly happy to put it in the post, but he made sure that it went by diplomatic bag.”
Mrs McAleese has said that she has not been given a specific answer to why Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell refused her permission to speak within the Vatican at the annual ‘Voices of Faith’ conference, although Cardinal Farrell had since addressed the issue in general terms.
“I did see Cardinal Farrell at a press conference just over a week ago in Rome (when) the question was put to him, and he said he would partially answer it,” she said.
“He didn’t refer to me at all or why he had barred me, though he went on to say that when people were invited to speak inside the Vatican it is presumed that everything they said was approved by the Pope.”