Italy: Mike Pompeo Denied Audience With Pope Francis | HuffPost

The Vatican denied U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s request for an audience with Pope Francis this week, saying the pope would not see Pompeo in the midst of the ongoing American election.

“Yes, he asked,” Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told The Associated Press as Pompeo is in Europe for a weeklong visit. “But the pope had already said clearly that political figures are not received in election periods. That is the reason.”

Pompeo will still meet with Parolin and other top Vatican officials during the visit, but the refusal was seen by some as the latest example of a political rift between the United States and the Vatican. During a religious freedom conference this week, Pompeo issued a strong denouncement of a deal the Catholic Church signed two years ago with China related to the appointment of bishops, which it is considering extending.President Donald Trump has taken a hard line against China, as has Pompeo, in the leadup to the U.S. election in November. The secretary of state has also taken unusual efforts to use his political authority to promote religious freedom.

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 Mike Pompeo Denied Audience With Pope Francis | HuffPost

Turkey-The Netherlands -EU: Diplomatic row as Dutch withdraw landing rights for Turkish minister's plane

The Netherlands says NO

The Netherlands has withdrawn landing rights for a plane carrying a Turkish government minister who wanted to address a rally in support of a controversial referendum giving more power to the president.

Foreign affairs minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu was planning to speak at a meeting in support of the referendum in Rotterdam late on Saturday afternoon. The decision to stop the plane carrying Cavusoglu from landing was taken on public order grounds. The call by the Turkish authorities for a mass demonstration is a threat to public order and safety, the Dutch foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

‘The Netherlands was in talks with the Turkish authorities about an acceptable solution to the visit,’ the statement said. Talks were ongoing about whether the meeting could take place in a smaller, closed environment such as a Turkish consulate or the embassy. ‘But before those talks could be completed, the Turkish authorities made a public threat about sanctions.

That made the search for a reasonable solution impossible,’ the statement said. The ministry said that many Dutch Turkish have voting rights in Turkey and that the government has no objection to information meetings. ‘But these meetings cannot contribute to the tensions in our society,’ the statement said.

More powers Cavusoglu hopes to win support for a yes vote in the Turkish referendum on amending the constitution to concentrate more power with president Tayyip Erdogan. Prime minister Mark Rutte has said the visit, planned for just four days before the Dutch general election, is ‘undesirable’.

The timing is inopportune, given that much of the election campaign revolves around maintaining the Dutch identity. It would also be playing into the hands of Geert Wilders, who held a short demonstration for the press in front of the Turkish embassy on Wednesday, Dutch commentators said.

Note EU-Digest: Obviously this move by the Dutch PM will score a lot of points for him in the upcoming Dutch elections in 4 days ,


Read more: Diplomatic row as Dutch withdraw landing rights for Turkish minister's plane - DutchNews.nl