MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands’ dispute: Vatican sources confirm non involvement, it is a matter for sovereign states

Cristina Fernandez with the Pope

The Vatican’s policy of non intervention in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands dispute between Argentina and Britain was confirmed by official sources in the Vatican, the UK ambassador to the Holy See Nigel Baker revealed to The Telegraph Sunday edition.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez lobbied the newly-elected Argentine Pope this month to promote talks she hopes will see the UK cede control of the Falklands to Argentina.
 

”Following Mrs. (Cristina Fernandez) Kirchner's visit to the Pope and her decision to use it as a platform, I thought it worth talking to Vatican officials to see if the Vatican would respond to the request for mediation“ ambassador Baker told The Daily Telegraph correspondent in Rome, Tom Kington.
 

”They reminded me of the Vatican's long-held position that this is a matter for sovereign states. There was no sense of them following through on Mrs. Kirchner's request, and there was a confirmation that their position had not changed,” he said.
 

Cristina Fernandez raised the issue with Francis at a private audience at the Vatican on March 18, the day before his formal inauguration.
 

Last March 10/11 the Falklands held a referendum on whether to remain a British Overseas Territory and with an overwhelming turnout of 92% Islanders voted 98.9% to remain British. The whole process was monitored by international observers.
 

Argentina had anticipated it considered the referendum ‘illegitimate’ and thus would not recognize the results. Cristina Fernandez described the ballot as a “meeting of squatters deciding whether to remain in the occupied premises” and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman argued that the population of the Falklands as such does not exist since it was ‘implanted’ by the British.