In July, Vatican Ambassador, Raymond Flynn, wrote to President Clinton and Vice President Gore asking them to be more aggressive in combating anti-Christian persecution around the world. He reminded President Clinton that in 1994 he recommended that there be an Assistant Secretary for Religious Affairs, but that his appeals “have fallen on deaf ears because religious issues in general, and religious persecution in particular, have not been our government’s top priority.”
In his letter to Gore, Flynn wrote that “I have repeatedly passed on concerns by leading Catholic Church officials in the Vatican of the outrageous violations of human and religious rights to State Department officials.” Flynn then commented, “There seems to be in the U.S. government, however, an almost institutional denial of religious violations which are so apparent throughout the world.”
We are grateful for Ambassador Flynn’s courage. We are also delighted that he sent us copies of these letters. And we are particularly happy that he sent to the vice president the “Open Letter to Gore” that the league signed in March; Flynn photocopied the letter from the May Catalyst.
