Check out this snippet from last Friday’s daily briefing with reporters. The briefer is Victoria Nuland.
I think they were kidding. But these days, it’s hard to tell.
QUESTION: Vatican.
MS. NULAND: What about the Vatican?
QUESTION: Well, do you regard it as a free and fair exercise in electing a leader of a country?
MS. NULAND: We did a little bit more digging on this. We consider Vatican City a sovereign juridical state. As some of you know – I think Matt knows – that sovereign juridical state has about 600 resident citizens. I would simply note that in the context of the election for the Pope, they were electing the head of a religion. He’s also the head of this sovereign juridical state.
It’s interesting to us that since this is a European state, we have never had a request for ODIHR [Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights] monitoring of the election, ODIHR being the election-monitoring entity in the European space. So, obviously, were that to come forward, we would take it very seriously.
QUESTION: So, wait, who requests that?
MS. NULAND: The – it can be requested by citizens. It can be requested by parliament. It can be requested by the opposition, as it was in the case of Belarus.
QUESTION: So if – (laughter) – such a request was made, would – the Vatican would have to open up its voting process for that kind of state?
MS. NULAND: If such a request were made for ODIHR monitoring of the voting, then the Vatican would have to consider whether it would open itself to ODIHR monitors.
QUESTION: Okay. But – all right. That’s very interesting. Now —
MS. NULAND: And as I said yesterday —
QUESTION: Yes.
MS. NULAND: — we would – if you wanted to be a monitor, we could see if we could arrange it, Matt. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: That would be great. I would love to spend a week or two in Rome.
MS. NULAND: Exactly.
QUESTION: But – what – now – but that —
QUESTION: Can women be monitors?
MS. NULAND: Say again?
QUESTION: Can women be monitors?
MS. NULAND: In the Vatican City context, I don’t know. We’d have to work on that. Jill, do you want to monitor?
QUESTION: So this just brings me —
MS. NULAND: Jill’s volunteering, too. We could have a whole roomful of monitors.
QUESTION: Yes.
QUESTION: Is it then correct that the U.S. does not take a position on whether the election of the Pope was free and fair and transparent?
MS. NULAND: As I said yesterday —
QUESTION: Without universal suffrage, without —
MS. NULAND: As I said yesterday, we don’t have any reason to question the process.
Thank you very much.