Contact: John Snyder, St. Gabriel Possenti Society, 202-239-8005, gundean@aol.com

ARLINGTON, Va., July 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- "With the recent removal of Archbishop Celestine Migliore as its permanent observer to the United Nations, the Vatican can demonstrate support for the right of self-defense and strengthen its endorsement of the right to life," John M. Snyder, Chairman of the St. Gabriel Possenti Society (www.gunsaint.com), said here today.

"By endorsing a proposed UN treaty mandating member countries' adherence to international small arms control," Snyder explained, "Migliore undercut the ability of individuals throughout the world to obtain firearms for defending their lives and the lives of their loved ones from those, including government officials, who illegitimately deprive innocents of their God-given right to life.

"This was a grievous error on the part of the Holy See's diplomatic corps. By undermining the ability of the individual to obtain the means necessary for defending life, Migliore and his ilk render hypocritical the Catholic Church support for the right to life itself. When will these people realize that governments are the worst mass murderers in history and that denial of the rights of individuals serves only to increase the power of these leviathans?"

Snyder said that, "While the promotion of peace is a most desirable undertaking, the attempt to do this by torpedoing the rights of individuals is abhorrent.

"The church now is experiencing the exposure of church officials' complicity in clerical scandals throughout the world. Church officials only add insult to injury when, after shelling out billions of dollars to comply with legal judgments rendered against them because of these scandals, they seek more contributions from churchgoers under various rubrics. They only make matters worse for the church by supporting far-out proposals like international gun-grabbing agreements."

The Vatican, noted Snyder, "should rectify its error, drop its support for this UN proposal, and heed the example of St. Gabriel Possenti, who demonstrated that people sometimes must have access to and use guns against evil. As Our Lord Himself stated, according to Luke 22:36, 'The man without a sword must sell his cloak and buy one.'"

In 1860, Possenti used handguns to rescue villagers of Isola, Italy from a gang of marauders. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXNE2jBaL9o).  He was canonized in 1920. The Society seeks his official Vatican designation as Patron of Handgunners. It highlights historical, philosophical and theological perspectives of the right of self-defense.