Page 26 - DIVA_2_2008_No.33

A defender of the rights of victims

Interview with His Excellency Monsignor Silvano M. Tomasi,
Aposto!ic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See

When going for a different direction.
rendez-vous with the
Holy See's representati- It was also a bagic time. I
ve in Geneva, you might was accredited both to
expect a serious, auste- Addis Ababa and to Asmara
re type who is going to during the war between
rriake you feel guilty Ethiopia and Eritrea and I
about all the things that had to shuttle between these
you should have done two capitals. To reach
and never did. However, Asmara I had to go through
meeting Monsignor Saudi Arabia because other
Tornasi was not like this connections were inter-
at all. We met a man rupted, or use the transport

with a great sense of of the U.N. peacekeepers.
humour, a deep
concern about people Religious leaders became
and their well-being, involved in tying to
and who is there to give establish communication
the "forgotten ones" in betweenthe two sides and to
our giobalffized wortd a resolve the differences.
voice, so that it can Ethiopians and Eritreans
become a better place realIy are brothers w'th the
for everybody to live. same language, the same
basic culture. I think it was a
One of his battles-if activities dealing with
we may ca!l it so - is to full-time teaching position displaced persons - good service to both govern-
strive in favour of in the university system or migrants, refugees and ments in tg to shorten
refugees and rnigrants, pursuing other activities in that futile and disastrous
putting their issues on the Church. After this people on the move. I
the international agen- teaching experience (which belong to a small religious
order that deals with the
da, a task to which was great), I worked with world of human mobility. I put a lot of energy into the
Monsignor Tornasi has migrants and refugees. push for development
dedicated most of his projects in villages, in medi-
Sometime after that, for From Rome I was sent as a cal health, in schools, and
life.
about six years I went to nuncio (i.e. ambassador) to also inthe idea of a Catholic
work for the Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea. I was university that is being
Q: Could you tell us
something about your Catholic Bishops of the there for some seven years. developed right now in
United States in Washington It was a great experience, I Addis Ababa.
background?
in the area ofresettlement of could see what aIl these mat-
I was bom and raised near refugees, assistance to the ters that I am involved with Normally a nuncio deals
Venice. As a young man I new people aniving in the in multilateral diplomacy - with the governtnent to
went to New York where I aftermath of the war in 'Viet development, poverty ane- which he is accredited, with
Nam and other newcomers viation, the role of civil the locaI Catholic Church,
became apriest.AltogetherI
from Asia and Latin society and democratic insti- with other religious
lived for over twenty-five prevention of atid
years in the United States. America. tutions, cotnmunities. The largest
conflicts-looked like on
At :5rst, I started teaching part ofthe Ethiopianpopula-
From there I was called to the ground. It was the time tion belongs to the Orthodox
sociology at the City from the
University of New York, Rome to serye as the of transition faith, but there is also a large
secretary of one of the Mengishi Regime to a more percentage of Muslims, and
where I taught formore than approach to
three years. At a certain departments of the Curia democratic a Lutheran tradition, in
(the central governing body political life in Ethiopia, particular in the south. The
point, I had to make a choi-
ce between continuing my of the Roman Catholic woe Eritrea gained inde- small Catholic Church is
Church) that coordinates pendence and moved in a aJso very active with some
24 2 2008 Drva

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