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| France picks gay diplomat for Unesco role amid Vatican tensions | France picks gay diplomat for Unesco role amid Vatican tensions |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| France has abandoned its attempts to appoint a gay man as ambassador to the Holy See amid resistance from the Vatican, choosing instead to select him for a post at Unesco. | France has abandoned its attempts to appoint a gay man as ambassador to the Holy See amid resistance from the Vatican, choosing instead to select him for a post at Unesco. |
| President François Hollande proposed , his head of protocol, for the Vatican position in January last year. Church officials did not confirm the posting for months, a delay French and Italian media attributed to Stefanini’s sexuality. | |
| Related: Paper claims pope rejected gay French diplomat as ambassador to Holy See | Related: Paper claims pope rejected gay French diplomat as ambassador to Holy See |
| On Wednesday, France named Stefanini ambassador to Unesco, the Paris-based UN cultural agency, the minutes of the cabinet’s weekly meeting showed. | On Wednesday, France named Stefanini ambassador to Unesco, the Paris-based UN cultural agency, the minutes of the cabinet’s weekly meeting showed. |
| Last year, the French Catholic newspaper La Croix cited an unnamed source as saying the Vatican considered it a “provocation” that France’s Socialist government, which in 2013 legalised same-sex marriage, had proposed a gay man for the post. | Last year, the French Catholic newspaper La Croix cited an unnamed source as saying the Vatican considered it a “provocation” that France’s Socialist government, which in 2013 legalised same-sex marriage, had proposed a gay man for the post. |
| Pope Francis has maintained Catholic teaching on homosexuality but has struck a more sympathetic personal tone towards gay people. He has said he could not judge gay people of goodwill who were seeking God, and has met members of a Catholic gay rights group in the Vatican. | Pope Francis has maintained Catholic teaching on homosexuality but has struck a more sympathetic personal tone towards gay people. He has said he could not judge gay people of goodwill who were seeking God, and has met members of a Catholic gay rights group in the Vatican. |
| But the pontiff has shown no sign of easing rules against gay unions or changing the church’s teaching that homosexual acts are sinful, even if homosexuality itself is not. | But the pontiff has shown no sign of easing rules against gay unions or changing the church’s teaching that homosexual acts are sinful, even if homosexuality itself is not. |