Vatican endorses facilitation process

Details are slowly being released of what went on between Belizean and Guatemalan leaders during their recent meeting in Guatemala City. According to a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Assad Shoman and Ambassador Fred Martinez, along with their Guatemalan counterparts, met for an hour with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Pope’s Secretary of State. The diplomats briefed the Cardinal on progress made in the facilitation process and asked for the Vatican’s blessing on the peace talks. The chemistry must have been right, because, according to the release, when the meeting was over Pope John Paul the Second asked to meet with the group and gave his blessing to the encounter. Interestingly, the release fails to offer any account of a meeting between Prime Minister Said Musa and Guatemala President Alfonso Portillo, also said to be blessed by the Pope.