:banghead: One would think that the people at the UN (who I assume are bright people) would understand the basics of the Church by now.
If you know basic Western political protocol/code, then what actually happened in that Committee would have been called in a political-military simulator I once played “a hostile PTO [Political Takeover]” or, in business-speak, simply a hostile takeover (I think).
“PTO’s” were often conducted by larger countries’ militaries or special branches. But even certain major companies or private armies could attempt them (and sometimes did successfully) even taking over the whole political leadership of a country. It was one of those things all the countries officially condemned but incessantly attempted. Effectively it is a concerted effort, sometimes rather blatant depending on whether or not the target country stood a chance at defeating it, but at other times more clandestine, deceptive and subtle (trying to appear like “natives”), to acquire control of a country’s political or other assets (perhaps a major party, the media or general communication system, or even control of its Congress), then effectively blackmail the population to rob them of their resources or force their cooperation or face extinction by, e.g., idiotically declaring war on a major country, thus activating their defense alliances against you and resulting in your country being wiped off the map.
If you are acquainted with traditional political code and jargon between Western powers, then you can recognize the Vatican’s response as effectively saying that we know that this Committee was subverted by what amounts to a foreign and hostile (not only to the Vatican but even to the UN itself) group. They are illegitimate representatives [of the UN’s own natural or logical culture], which no doubt explains their almost obsessive reference to themselves as “the Committee” and their tendency to cloak individuals and their agenda in the language and “colours”, at it were, of the UN [feigning a native or natural cultural belonging].
No one buys it except a few clueless journalists and the Vatican made sure everyone who matters knows they know what’s up; and now so do the people -if they are backed by a government, for example- responsible for it.
Former U.S. Pres. George W. Bush would probably call such knowledge a form of “political capital”, though its value depends on the political situation and circumstances of the times. Knowing who is ultimately responsible would be the prize.
