This just in from Vatican Insider: “A new ceremonial was introduced during the Pope’s audience with Argentinian president Mauricio Macri: remarried spouses of heads of state will no longer be greeted separately.
“The Vatican Secretariat of State had specifically looked into changing the protocol, at Pope Francis’ request. As it turned out, the protocol was applied for the first time on the occasion of the visit by Argentina’s new President Mauricio Macri to the Vatican, where he attended an audience with Pope Francis on Saturday 27 February. From now on, Catholic heads of state in irregular marital unions will be able to meet the Pope along with their spouse and the latter will also be able to appear in official group photos when gifts are exchanged. Until today, in such cases, the husband or wife had to wait in another room and the Pope greeted them separately at the end of the audience.
“Argentinian journalist Elisabetta Piqué was the first to announce the change in protocol in an article published by daily newspaper La Nación.
“Secretariat of State sources confirmed to Vatican Insider that this change is in force as of now and applies to all Catholic heads of state on official visits to the Vatican.” READ FULL STORY HERE
REMNANT COMMENT: What a shock, especially after this:
Yayo Grassi, an openly gay man, and his “partner”, Iwan Bagus, were invited to the Vatican Embassy on September 23 for an audience with the Pope. A video of the meeting shows Grassi and Francis greeting each other with a warm hug.
