Georgian Orthodox church derails agreement between Georgia and Vatican GEORGIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH UNHAPPY WITH PLANNED AGREEMENT BETWEEN GEORGIA AND VATICAN
Portal-credo.ru, 17 September 2003
The Georgian Orthodox church is displeased with the agreement between Georgia and the Vatican that is being prepared for signatures, RIA Novosti reports. "We have often expressed our readiness to determine the legal status in Georgia of Catholics and believers of other confessions but for us it is completely unexpected and absolutely unacceptable for an agreement between Georgia and the Vatican, that was initiated by the official representation of the Holy See in Georgia, to be concluded," an official statement of the Georgian Orthodox church stated, which was distributed in the evening of 16 September.
"We do not understand why the text of the agreement being prepared is being kept secret from the Georgian Orthodox church," the statement notes. "The Vatican wants to deceive the leadership of Georgia with this initiative and to hasten the signing of the agreement which could happen on 18-20 September during the visit to Tbilisi by an official representative of the Vatican, the minister of foreign affairs of the Holy See, Archbishop Jean-Louis Toran," the church thinks. "We hope that in order to avoid a confrontation the Vatican will refrain from such a serious step with the consent of the Georgian Orthodox church," the statement says.
(tr. by PDS, posted 19 September 2003)
GEORGIA WILL NOT SIGN AGREEMENT WITH VATICAN
Portal-credo.ru, 19 September 2002
Georgia will not sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Vatican, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Kakha Sikharulidze, told reporters in Tbilisi on 19 September, NEWSru.com reports. He said that State Minister Avtandil Dzhorbenadze called Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze by telephone, who is in Yalta for the CIS summit, and the president gave an order to refrain from signing the document.
Meanwhile in Tbilisi during these hours a massive demonstration of protest by students continued at the parliament building and the Georgian state chancellery.
State Minister A. Dzhorbenadze met with representatives of the students and told them about the president’s decision, although the students still have not ceased their demonstration, demanding official written assurances from the government on this matter.
The intention to sign an intergovernmental agreement between Georgia and the Vatican was taken by the Georgian Orthodox church as the Vatican’s attempt to spread the influence of the Roman Catholic church in Orthodox Georgia.
The agreement, comprising 15 points, proposes giving the Catholic church in Georgia rights equal to those of the Orthodox church.
Yesterday the secretary of state of the Holy See for relations of the Vatican with other states, Archbishop Jean Louis Toran, arrived in Tbilisi for signing the agreement. The signing was supposed to be held today in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the absence from Georgia of President Eduard Shevardnadze and Minister of Foreign Affairs Irakly Menagarishvili, who are in Yalta for the CIS summit.
As already reported, Catholicos Patriarch Iliia II of all-Georgia called a special press conference at which he declared the inexpediency of Georgia’s signing an agreement with the Vatican, since "this could strain relations between the Orthodox and Catholic churches."
(tr. by PDS, posted 19 September 2003)
