Amid Church-state tensions, papal knighthood conferred on France's Vatican ambassador (Vatican News (French))

Élisabeth Beton-Delègue, France’s ambassador to the Holy See, became a Dame of the Order of Pope Pius IX on November 15. Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, who coordinates the internal affairs of the Holy See, inducted her into the Order.

The ceremony took place a month after France’s interior minister met with the president of the episcopal conference on the confessional seal and the mandatory reporting of child abuse. Prime Minister Jean Castex subsequently met with Pope Francis. In a meeting with Castex, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said that the sacraments must be respected.

The Vatican News report on the papal honor notes that French is one of the Vatican’s official languages and is the language of Vatican diplomacy. Italian is the official language of the Vatican City State; German is the official language of the Pontifical Swiss Guard; and Latin is the “official language of the Roman Catholic Church and the juridical language of the Vatican.”