The Catholic Leader - 22 April

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The Catholic Leader, April 22, 2018
News
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Ambassador to the Holy See gives insight into Vatican life
By Mark Bowling
AUSTRALIA’S first resident
woman ambassador to the Holy See
Melissa Hitchman has described
Pope Francis’ papacy as a “unique
moment in history”.
“He is willing to dialogue on issues that the
Church has previously not been prepared to do,”
Ms Hitchman said at the start of a mid-term tour
during which she will be speaking with Austral-
ian Catholic leaders and agencies and reporting
on progress during the first half of her three-year
posting.
The head of Australia’s resident mission to the
Holy See, Ms Hitchman said Pope Francis had
a clear message to send, and was not afraid to
be “the voice of the voiceless” on issues such as
migrants and refugees, climate change, and even
some of the more controversial issues facing the
international community.
“He’s showing a courage, and values-based
leadership,” Ms Hitchman, a Catholic herself,
said.
Ms Hitchman described an historic set of cir-
cumstances linking Australia and the Holy See.
“I’m delighted to be there at this moment
in history,” she said. “It is a great congruence
with our foreign policy and the Holy See’s
policy, which is only limited by imagination
and resources.
“Australia and our partners in the internation-
al community have much in common in terms
of service to humanity and the global com-
mons, and so we are able to partner with him
(Pope Francis) in a way that maybe we aren’t
with other global leaders in the world today.
“He is making a difference, and populations
are looking for that leadership, someone who
they can turn to who can articulate a sense of
values. And we are delighted to be able to work
with him on that.”
After briefing the Federation of the Catholic
Bishops Conferences of Oceania, Ms Hitchman
flew to Brisbane, where she spoke to clergy
and seminarians at the Holy Spirit Provincial
Seminary, Banyo.
“I have come directly from the Oceania
bishops’ conference in Port Moresby … and
I was the only woman in a room of about one
hundred men there, and I think if I did nothing
else, I achieved that,” she said. It was part of
a speech, in which the career diplomat and
mother described her efforts to lift the profile
of Australia’s Holy See mission, encourage the
participation of women and promote indigenous
culture.
Introducing her speech, Brisbane vicar gen-
eral Monsignor Peter Meneely said he believed
it was the first time an Ambassador to the Holy
See had officially visited the archdiocese, let
alone the seminary.
Ms Hitchman acknowledged that most
Australians knew little about Australia’s
diplomatic mission in Rome.
She described her day-to-day work
brokering high-level meetings with
members of the Curia, networking
to obtain vital information, and
promoting Australian interests in
the heart of the Church.
“Our job as diplomats is to
shape and influence and to seek
outcomes,” she said.
Ms Hitchman has promoted
the interests of the
Australian Catholic
University, which
offers short-course
scholarships and
exchanges for
students at its
Rome campus,
and sup-
ported projects
with Caritas
Australia and
Catholic
Health Aus-
tralia.
Stronger voice for women
And she has hosted indigenous artist Deborah
Cheetham, and launched the Australia Cata-
logue during Reconciliation Week at the Vati-
can Anima Mundi Museum.
Ms Hitchman also described how early dip-
lomatic aspirations to break through the “glass
ceiling” within the Department of Foreign Af-
fairs and Trade, had now come to fruition.
One of her assignments as a trainee diplomat
had been to prepare and deliver a hard-edged
speech to improve her public speaking.
“We had about nine per cent of women as
heads of mission – you couldn’t really aspire to
becoming an ambassador, and it was never my
goal, and secondly we didn’t have a resident
mission to the Holy See,” she said.
“I wrote my speech on becoming the first
female Ambassador to the Holy See.”
Since arriving in Rome in 2016, Ms Hitch-
man said she had witnessed “some positive de-
velopments” for women working in and around
the Vatican.
She said a new group known as “donna in
Vaticana” or DIVA now offered women official
recognition “that they exist and that their work
is valuable and appreciated”.
“It represents the women working in the Vati-
can, and this group gives them a voice in a way
they have not had before,” Ms Hitchman said.
“There are now opportunities for women.
“They have some very educated, intelligent,
highly networked women working in the Vatican,
advising the Curia … some of them are Harvard
Law graduates; they feel a calling to the Church
and are using their skills and talents in that way.
“Some of those women in the Vatican are
working on issues as diverse as arms control,
humanitarian aid and assistance through Caritas,
all sorts of areas.“There are so many issues we
could be working on and at times we become
exhausted trying to cover them all.”
Visitor: Ambassador Melissa Hitchman with
David Miller.
Seminary visit: Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See Melissa Hitchman (third from left) is at Holy Spirit Provincial Seminary with (from left) Verbum-
Dei Sister Maeve Heaney, former Holy See ambassador John Herron, indigenous elder David Miller, vicar general Monsignor Peter Meneely and
Australian Catholic University Associate Vice-Chancellor Professor Jim Nyland. Photos: Mark Bowling