WikiLeaks: Pope wanted Muslim Turkey out of EU

The pope is responsible for the Vatican's growing hostility towards Turkey joining the EU, according to previously secret cables. UK's Guardian newspaper reported that latest WikiLeaks US cable revealed Pope Benedict 16th, wanted to keep Turkey out of EU.

The Daily said “In 2004 Cardinal Ratzinger, the future pope, spoke out against letting a Muslim state join, although at the time the Vatican was formally neutral on the question.”

The Vatican's acting foreign minister, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, responded by telling US diplomats that Ratzinger's comments were his own rather than the official Vatican position, said

Pointing out that the Holy See has been consistently open to accession in 2006, Guardian said the Pope told US diplomats that Vatican is open to accession and emphasized that Turkey needs to fulfill the EU's Copenhagen criteria to take its place in Europe.


/World Bulletin/