Several simultaneous interventions allowed the visit to the Generalate of Ms Florence Mangin, Ambassador of the French Republic to the Holy See.
On Wednesday 19 April 2023, she visited the Generalate at the invitation of a group of Heads of Lasallian Establishments from the south-west and centre-east of the District of France, for a meeting and exchanges on her mission, an opportunity for her to get to know the Brothers and Lay Lasallians.
Brother Armin, Superior General, surrounded by several Brothers and Delegates of the Trusteeship and Fraternities in France, welcomed Ms. Mangin and escorted her to the Aula Magna, where more than sixty people were waiting for her.
The Ambassador gave a dense and exciting presentation of her mission as ambassador to the smallest state in the world. An experienced diplomat with a rich international career, she presented all the areas in which she and her team are involved, from the elegant Villa Bonaparte in Via Piave, which is different from the French Embassy to the Italian Republic.
The areas of intervention are numerous: management of French real estate and property in Rome, but above all cultural missions on the major issues of society and the French language. Diplomatic missions, of course, including regular meetings and consultations with Vatican diplomats, particularly when France’s experience can help in international relations and the search for peace. Although opinions may differ between the French Republic and the Vatican on certain personal and social moral issues, the French secularism framework is not an obstacle in Rome, where conversations are conducted with great mutual respect. Ms. Mangin is the second woman to hold this position and is legitimately proud to also be a woman’s voice and to promote the role of women in her team.
A brief snack allowed for some informal exchanges to express the joy of our group of French Lasallians to have met this energetic and extremely friendly representative of our country.
Brother Claude Reinhardt