Statement

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TO THE PRESIDENT OF ICANN

Dear Sir,

I am pleased to foward enclosed herewith a statement which I would request
that you kindly bring to the attention of the Board. Looking foward to
meeting you in Mexico, I remain, yours sincerely

Mons. Carlo Maria Polvani, Holy See's Representative to the GAC

TO THE BOARD OF ICANN
The Holy See, being an active member of the GAC, would like to contribute to
ICANN¹s success in its upcoming project of creation of new gTLD¹s.
Specifically, the Holy See would like to bring to the attention of the Board
of ICANN the possible perils connected with the assignment of new gTLDs with
reference to religious traditions (e.g., .catholic, .anglican, .orthodox,
.hindu, .islam; .muslim, .buddhist, etc?). These gTLDs could provoke
competing claims among theological and religious traditions and could
possibly result in bitter disputes that would force ICANN, implicitly and/or
explicitly, to abandon its wise policy of neutrality by recognizing to a
particular group or to a specific organization the legitimacy to represent a
given religious tradition. The Holy See recognizes that the Community
Objection process proposed as part of ICANN¹s draft new gTLD implementation
model may be a mechanism for addressing these concerns. Hence, mindful that
Article 2.1 of the GAC Principles regarding new gTLDs (28 March, 2007),
prescribes that the latter should respect ³the sensitivities regarding terms
with national, cultural, geographic and religious significance², the Holy
See asks the Board of ICANN to commence a discussion on the process of
assignment of gTLDs with religious significance, including any objection
process, before moving forward with its final implementation. The Holy See
would like to assure the Board of ICANN¹s that it remains at its disposal to
offer its advice and assistance, if such it is deemed opportune and
necessary