Vatican Criticizes U.S. Stance On Women’s Issues But American Female Named To Head Church’s Delegation

Saying it feared the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing next month could result in a “step backward in the field of human rights for women,” the Vatican Friday made a detailed attack on positions endorsed by the United States and other participants in preparatory meetings, saying that they promoted abortion and would undermine the central place of the family.

The statement by Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the spokesman for Pope John Paul II, came as the Vatican announced that its 22-member delegation will include 14 women and will be headed by Mary Ann Glendon, an American legal scholar whose appointment had been quietly urged by the Clinton administration.

The appointment of Glendon, a Harvard law professor who supports the Vatican’s stand against abortion but has also a record of advocacy of political steps favoring developing countries, was seen as a conciliatory gesture to avoid driving the Vatican into isolation in Beijing, as occurred last September at the U.N. Population Conference in Cairo.

It was the first time that a woman was named to head an official Vatican delegation.

The attack on positions supported by the United States came despite efforts by the Vatican and the Clinton administration to search for areas of agreement at the Beijing conference and to reduce attention to the more emotional issues like abortion.

The U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Raymond L. Flynn, a former mayor of Boston, lobbied heavily in recent months in favor of Glendon’s appointment to lead the Vatican delegation. Senior Vatican officials were divided over whether to choose Glendon or a Norwegian scholar, Janne Haaland Matlary, who is also a delegation member, to lead the group.

While Glendon is a foe of abortion, she is also a champion of the rights of women and children in divorce and supports economic measures to help Third World countries.

Flynn, an ally of Clinton, has played a crucial role in the administration’s effort to reduce confrontation with the Vatican, undoubtedly with the 1996 elections and the Roman Catholic vote in mind. Flynn has sought to stress areas of agreement between the Clinton administration and the Vatican while seeking to avoid open clashes on divisive issues like abortion.

After weeks of uncertainty, Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to attend the Beijing meeting as honorary chairwoman of the U.S. delegation, American officials said Friday.

At a news conference, NavarroValls said there was “no cause for a pessimistic attitude” about the conference and that the Vatican will go to Beijing “to achieve a consensus.”

But his attacks on specific parts of the preparatory document as well as its use of phrases like “reproductive rights,” “safe sex” and “safe abortion,” made clear that the Vatican would not seek consensus by surrendering on what it considered central moral issues.

The Vatican has only observer status at the United Nations, but it claims to speak for millions of Roman Catholics worldwide and its positions carry moral and political weight at conferences like the one in Beijing as countries search for the broadest possible consensus.

As the Vatican outlined its views, a group of three nongovernmental organizations representing women said in Brussels they would challenge the Vatican’s right to attend the Beijing conference.

The organizations - the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, Women in DevelopmentEurope, and the Latin American and Caribbean Health Network - said in a statement that the Vatican presence in Beijing violated the principle of equal respect for all religions. Moreover, the organizations accused the Vatican of “sacrificing the rights of women to the Church’s theological agenda.”

Pope John Paul II has been at pains recently to stress his support for women’s rights. In a letter to women in July, the Pope gave credit to the women’s movement for its achievements and offered an apology for injustices against women committed in the name of the Church.