A Diplomacy of Candor: Pope Benedict XVI on the Global Stage
Bernard O'Connor Friday, 1 September 2006
American humorist and essayist Elwyn Brooks White seldom bothered to conceal his disdain for conventional diplomacy. In an essay entitled "Compost," White argued that "a nation, like an individual, if he has anything to say, should simply say it." Most practitioners of the diplomatic craft, according to his view, seem almost inherently incapable of clear, coherent, and credible discourse. But White might be pleasantly surprised to learn that the diplomatic style shown by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger since he assumed the papacy on April 19, 2005, could well be described as a "Diplomacy of Candor."
To read the entire article, please visit this article's page at informaworld, where articles are available for purchase from Routledge, our publishing partner.