The Vatican’s Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean Louis Tauran, who arrived in Tbilisi on September 18 to sign an agreement with the Georgian government, delivered a statement to the Georgian authorities in which he expressed regret regarding the failure to sign an agreement.
“I appreciate the hospitality of the Georgians. However, I regret that we failed to reach an agreement due to the Georgian authorities’ refusal to sign the agreement between the Vatican and Georgia. The Catholic society of Georgia will mostly suffer from it, since it will still have no legal status in this country,” the statement reads.
On September 19 President Shevardnadze yielded to the demand of the Georgian Orthodox Church and mass protest rally in Tbilisi and refused to sign the agreement with the Vatican.
The agreement, setting down the relations with the Vatican, was expected to be signed on September 20.
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