Vatican spokesman explains why Cardinal Parolin attended Bilderberg Group

...to take Francis’ Yiddish Gospel to the ‘peripheries’

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, accepted an invitation to address the controversial and secretive Bilderberg Meeting earlier this month in order to take the teaching of the Church to a group who would not otherwise hear it, a Vatican spokesman has told the Register. 

The spokesman said Italian organizers of the visit were persistent in extending an invitation to the most senior Vatican official after Pope Francis to this year’s event, which took place June 7-10 in Turin, Italy. “The cardinal decided to take part after the Italian organizers very insistently invited him to the meeting six months ago,” the spokesman explained. “He thought about it for a long time and, after consulting the necessary people, he decided to go.” 

[...] 

In his June 15 comments to the Register, the Vatican spokesman stressed that Parolin “did not ask to go” to the event, but decided to attend after a “long process of consultation.” He said he did not know why the organizers were so insistent, except that it was probably because Pope Francis is an “important voice” on the world stage. 

The Vatican Secretary of State was there for a “short time — about an hour and three quarters,” he disclosed, during which the cardinal gave an address about the “social doctrine of the Church” followed by a question and answer session. 

The Pope was certainly aware of the cardinal’s participation, the spokesman said, and that the cardinal was “fully aware of the controversial nature” of the event but felt encouraged by having already met many of the participants in “other contexts.” 

“He already knew some of the people, prime ministers and so on,” the spokesman said. 

[...] 

The Vatican spokesman brushed off concerns about the secretive nature of the event, saying that the Chatham House Rule is well known and widely used. “Various other meetings have the same rules,” he said. The Bilderberg Meeting says participants are free to discuss the meeting and do so every year, but they are asked not to quote each other. 

Some have speculated that this year’s event was to discuss how to thwart rising nationalist and populist movements, seen most clearly in the election of President Donald Trump, Brexit, and the recent elections in Italy which saw two populist parties gain power. 

The Vatican spokesman said he “could not say anymore” on the issue, reiterating that the cardinal was there “simply to convey Catholic social teaching” and to take “the voice of the Church to people who wouldn’t otherwise hear it.” 

Although the spokesman wasn’t present with the cardinal, he said he believed his speech and remarks were “very well received.” 

The Register contacted the Bilderberg Meeting to ask why the organizers were so insistent on having the cardinal participate and whether it seeks to promote a globalist agenda, but it has not yet responded.

excerpted from, Spokesman Explains Why Cardinal Parolin Attended Bilderberg Meeting by Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register, 15 June 2018.

Related:

• Cardinal Pietro Parolin will be attending Bilderberg 2018