President Nicolas Sarkozy could meet Pope Benedict XVI next month to discuss his government’s controversial policy of deporting Roma, the daily La Croix reported on Friday.
Mr. Sarkozy’s adviser Claude Gueant told the daily that Mr. Sarkozy’s visit to the Vatican could take place in the first half of October.
Mr. Gueant said one of the aims of the meeting would be to clear up tensions created by French reactions to statements by the pope criticizing the Roma expulsions.
On August 22, the pontiff appeared to indirectly criticize the French policy by telling French pilgrims that the scriptures were “an invitation to know how to accommodate legitimate human diversities, just as Jesus came to assemble men from all nations and speaking every language.” Several days later, an adviser to Mr. Sarkozy, Alain Minc, told France Inter radio that Benedict was not entitled to speak about the Roma situation because he was German.
“Anyone can say anything about the Roma situation, but not a German pope. John Paul II perhaps, but not him,” Mr. Minc said.
Mr. Minc was referring to the mass exterminations of Roma populations in eastern and central Europe by Germany’s Nazi regime.
A source in the Elysee Palace told La Croix that Mr. Minc’s statements provoked uneasiness at the Vatican. “The pope is not happy,” the source said.
The daily, which specializes in religious issues, said it was unusual that a head of state could set up an appointment with the pope in such a short time.
La Croix speculates that one of the president’s aims in the meeting is to score points with France’s Catholic voters. Mr. Sarkozy’s approval rating with French Catholics has fallen from 61 per cent in August 2009 to 47 per cent one year later.
